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ALONG THE PACIFIC 
BY LAND AND SEA 



In Preparation 

A SECOND VOLUME OF MR. JOHNSTON's 
TRAVEL LETTERS WILL FOLLOW THIS FIRST 
VOLUME, UNDER THE TITLE ThE SuNNY 

South and Its People, both volumes 
uniform in style. net $1.25. 



ALONG THE PACIPMC 
BY LAND AND SEA 

Through the Golden Gate 



y By 



Cr W. JOHNSTON 




CHICAGO 
RAND McNALLY & CO. 
1916 



■rrz 



Copyright 1916 
C. W. Johnston 



JAN -5 1817 



Press of Rand McNally & Co. 



^CI,.A455018 



EXPLANATORY NOTE 

AFTER being engaged in the active practice of law at 
. Des Moines, Iowa, for thirty years, I concluded to 
discontinue and enter upon a period of travel in this and 
foreign countries, both for pleasure and information. 

Being interested in political, social and governmental 
questions from past activities and studies in these various 
lines, my purpose was to broaden and enlarge my informa- 
tion on these subjects for my own personal benefit and 
pleasure alone. 

On my departure the editor and manager of the Regis- 
ter and Leader of Des Moines, Iowa, came to me and 
requested that I write my observations and send them to 
his paper for the benefit and pleasure of its readers. 
As it is located in the state capital and is the largest 
and possibly the most influential political paper in the 
state, with the largest daily circulation, I concluded to 
do so. 

On my return I found my letters had been extensively 
read by all classes of people, and commented on by indi- 
viduals and periodicals of standing and reputation, many 
requesting me to put the same in book form for preserva- 
tion, and this is the reason the letters in this volume have 
made their appearance in this form. 

He who reads and finds pleasure and information 
herein gives me much pleasure in thus honoring me. 

Sincerely, 

C. W. Johnston. 
Des Moines, Iowa. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Spokane 1 

Spokane 4 

Victoria, B. C 8 

Victoria, B. C 10 

Vancouver, B. C 12 

Vancouver, B. C 16 

Seattle 18 

Seattle 23 

Seattle — Portland 27 

Portland 31 

Portland 84 

Portland 87 

Portland 40 

Portland — San Francisco 43 

San Francisco 46 

San Francisco 61 

San Francisco 55 

San Francisco 68 

San Francisco 61 

San Francisco 66 

San Francisco 69 

California 73 

San Francisco 76 

San Francisco 80 

vii 



CONTENT S— C o n t i n u e d 

Paoe 

San Francisco 84 

San Francisco 88 

San Francisco 92 

San Francisco 96 

San Francisco 98 

San Francisco 101 

San Francisco 104 

San Francisco 108 

San Francisco Ill 

San Francisco 115 

San Francisco 118 

San Francisco 121 

San Francisco 124 

San Francisco 128 

San Francisco 134 

San Francisco 138 

San Francisco 141 

San Francisco 144 

San Francisco 147 

Monterey 151 

Santa Barbara 155 

Ocean Park 158 

Pasadena 161 

AvALON, Catalina Islands 165 

San Gabriel 168 

Redlands ..... 173 

Riverside 176 

Los Angeles 180 

viii 



CONTENT S— C o n t i n u e d 

Page 

Los Angeles 183 

Los Angeles 186 

Los Angeles 191 

Los Angeles 194 

Los Angeles 197 

San Diego 201 

San Diego 205 

San Diego 209 

San Diego 213 

San Pedro 217 

On the Seas 221 

Mazatlan, Mexico 225 

On the Seas 230 

Salina Cruz, Mexico 236 

San Jose, Guatemala 238 

Amapala, Honduras 242 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica 246 

Balboa, P. R 249 

Colon, P. R 265 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 
BY LAND AND SEA 



Along the Pacific 

Spokane, Wash., Feb. 14, 1915. 

DES MOINES is known as the City of Certainties, 
that is, efficiency. Before leaving I thought I would 
test this, because we hear much these days of "Made in the 
United States." The night before I left, some of my old 
clients called on me to make out their income tax, and I 
realized that to change my habits in one night and get up 
and take an early train, getting to bed at 2 A. M., I might 
have trouble. So I spoke to five of my friends who seemed 
to desire to accommodate me, asking them to ring my 'phone 
at a certain hour, making myself sure that each arose as a 
habit before the hour set for me. Instead of pandemonium 
next morning, only one called. 

When I purchased my ticket the young man wired for 
a berth at St. Paul. I gave the day and night and he used 
figures. Next day when I called to pay for the same the 
error was discovered, so another telegram was sent and a 
wait of hours, and word came that I was given lower two, 
and all was well. 

When I went to the depot the morning of my departure 
I discovered the young man had failed to designate an 
option for me out of six diflPerent routes, by punching a 
hole at the proper place on the ticket. Time was short, 
but I found a man with the necessary punch and he duly 
performed the surgical operation. 

Then I found I had thirty-five pounds of excessive bag- 
gage. Although the railroads are liberal and just in this 
respect, I was not in a mood to pay for excessive baggage, 
so imitating our democratic administration and having to 
handle it only once, I deposited it in the Pullman instead 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

of the baggage car, and it came through all right like a 
parcel post package. But did not Mr. Burleson and my- 
self do the roads a wrong? If the charges were reasonable 
I feel that we did, and when I think of a trip of 2,200 
miles, I believe the charge in my case was just. 

My train left St. Paul at 10:30 P. M., and having but 
little sleep the night before, I retired promptly and by the 
time I got to Minneapolis I was sound asleep going at the 
rate, no doubt, of forty miles per hour. 

A man at Minneapolis about sixty years of age had 
just married a woman of about twenty-five, and had pur- 
chased these lower berths, one and two, being opposite each 
other, number one for himself and number two, which I 
had also bought, for his bride. She was given another berth 
in the middle of the car. 

The conductor came to me the next morning and ex- 
plained the trouble he was in and said the man was furious 
when he got on the train the night before and found lower 
two occupied, and asked me if I would not exchange berths 
with the lady. I told him I would be delighted to do so. 
Some time later he informed the lady that I was willing to 
exchange and up to this time I did not know which one 
was the bride. 1 spoke out plainly and she was hearing 
all that was said. Later the conductor came and informed 
me that the lady desired to retain her present home. Just 
like a woman if her wish is granted too suddenly. I ex- 
pressed entire satisfaction. 

I then noticed a lady half way down the car partially 
arise with a head of beautiful red hair, turn around and 
smiling, expose a set of beautiful white teeth, and with 
laughing brown eyes, bow to me her thanks. Then all my 
troubles from inefficiency faded into mist and were for- 
given and forgotten — and such is the United States. 



BY LAND AND SEA 

The man — why, he was so mad at me he never looked 
my way across the aisle, at least each time I glanced his 
way I saw his hair pointing straight up towards the beau- 
tiful blue sky, his face to the front, set and determined. 
And after all, life is a sweet dream if you will it so. 

North Dakota is a spot on this earth without a tree. 
It is located where the cold blasts of winter are severe. 
Over thirty years ago the Northern Pacific in the hands of 
an optimist with an aggressive spirit made and developed 
a barren waste into a great food-producing area. 

The Creator has provided often for deficiencies which 
man learns by slow process of study and experience. For 
twenty years you could not give this land away. In the 
last ten years man has found out what to do here to make 
the most of his surroundings. He now raises small grains 
of all kinds, and horses and cattle and hay. He is getting 
rich. Land near Beach sold for $60.00 two weeks ago. To 
protect him against the winter blasts without wood, over 
thirty square miles contain coal, some of it twenty feet 
thick. It has all kinds of clay and the tree is missed for 
shade and beauty only. 

One evening we saw a large flock of prairie chickens, 
and later two coyotes starting out to forage for food. A 
bounty of $13.00 has almost driven this creature to the zoo 
in the parks. 

At my first meal I ordered a baked potato. Imagine 
my surprise when one came, eight and one-half inches long 
and four and one-half inches thick. If Thorne or Brandeis 
ever hear of this waste and extravagance in management, 
there would be no raise in western freights. On inquiry I 
learned they are raised in Bitter Root Valley, Montana, 
an area forty-five miles long, and it is a beautiful valley. 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Except for copper the mining interests in Montana are 
about all gone, and the people have gone to raising hay, 
horses, cattle and sheep, the latter in large numbers. Irri- 
gation prevails. They will amuse you when telling you 
the pleasure they get in raising their vegetables by getting 
on their knees and with their fingers coaxing the water 
around the roots of the growing plant. 

I have been in and passed through many cities since I 
left, and I am honest and frank when I say that Des 
Moines had the worst looking streets, when I left, that I 
have seen. St. Paul even was far ahead of Des Moines 
and Minneapolis was clean as a floor. All the way out 
much snow had fallen, yet the business streets in every 
town, without exception, were clean and attractive. The 
sidewalks were also clean. The streets of Des Moines have 
been all winter long, from every point of view, a disgrace 
to the people who submit to such conditions. They could 
not be much worse with no city government. I have been 
both surprised and pleased at the pride and cleanliness 
shown by many western cities I have seen. 



Spokane, Wash., Feb. 14. 

UPON leaving the train here I was surprised to have 
the trainmen approach me and bid me goodbye and 
wish me a happy, pleasant journey. Such little kindnesses 
wherever and to whomever rendered cost nothing and m^ke 
everybody feel good. 

In the United States there is too much brusqueness and 
inattention to these little amenities, both in commercial and 
social life. They have much to do with happiness or dis- 
satisfaction among our people. 



BY LAND AND SEA 

In my case I learned that I was picked out as a profes- 
sor in some eastern educational institution, and if I can 
continue successfully to be so regarded in this respect, I am 
going to have a very pleasant time. For the professor or 
teacher is a true philanthropist of the highest order. He 
is known the world over as a hard worker on small pay, 
constantly giving forth, whether solicited or not, a portion 
of his assets, accumulated after years of hard work and 
the burning of much midnight oil, upon the theory the more 
he gives the more he will have — and dies poor. "Blessed 
are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven." 
So what more does the teacher want — as most of them are 
women — but a pension and the right to vote ? 

Spokane is a beautiful city situated in a basin, being 
surrounded by mountains, and cut in two portions by the 
Spokane river. In this respect and in size it is similar to 
Des Moines, but dis-similar in other respects. The paved 
streets and sidewalks are clean and well put down. Gal- 
vanized receptacles enclosing sacks are located in each 
block to receive all waste paper, and this I especially call 
to the attention of my good and loyal friend. Commissioner 
Myerly. Nothing of this kind is blowing over the streets 
as you see in Des Moines. The streets are flushed or swept 
all the time and it is a real pleasure to be in the business 
section and enjoy this cleanliness. It is pleasant to the 
eye and creates in the mind happy thoughts, just the re- 
verse of filth. Des Moines pays well for these things but 
does not get them. 

Spokane has the commission form of government con- 
sisting of five members, elected for five years at a yearly 
salary of $5,000 each, and they are required to devote all 
their time to the business interests of the city. Of the 
present commissioners each was a success prior thereto in 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

private business life, which he gave up on entering the 
office for the performance of his public duties. 

The people are pleased with the city management of 
public affairs because it is all business, directed by prac- 
tical business men, with no political ambitions to cause them 
to deviate from the straight and narrow way. 

The Spokane falls are in the heart of the city, and they 
are beautiful, but now disfigured by a private corporation 
absorbing the power rights years ago and the land adj oining, 
which is leased, not sold for factory locations. The Wash- 
ington Power company controls the situation, once owned 
by local parties, but now held by eastern parties. The 
rates are high and factories have remained away and the 
city has but few. The power company owns one street car 
line and operates the same. The city built a fine bridge 
below the falls costing $500,000. It charged the company 
$100,000 to use the bridge for its street car lines and com- 
pels it to light the bridge for the use of the same. It 
also receives a per cent of its receipts. The city owns an 
asphalt plant, having a large number of streets paved with 
asphalt, and makes all its own repairs, including that por- 
tion of the street used by the street railway, and last year 
the power company paid the city $10,000 for repairing the 
asphalt around its car tracks. 

It also owns and operates its water plant and has been 
doing so for ten years. The people seem to be satisfied. 
They feel the city is being operated in a business-like way 
and all these things bring a revenue into the city and keep 
down taxation. 

Now you could not do this and get these results in Des 
Moines with one commissioner with his eye on congress and 
another on the governorship and another there solely to 
look after the rights and wants of labor, regardless of 



BY LAND AND SEA 

what is best and most wholesome for the city as a whole. 

Spokane has many good buildings and several whole- 
sale and jobbing houses of which two are wholesale dry 
goods. 

But this town has been hit and the people do not know 
where or what hit it. House rents have fallen 50 per cent, 
and business men and landlords have voluntarily reduced the 
rents during the depression. Labor unions and contractors 
have had their disagreements, and the small jobs are all 
taken by the union men, thus eliminating the contractor by 
low bidding, and often they do not realize half union wages, 
but they must live and to live must work. Living is 
both high and cheap. As you walk down some of the main 
streets you see signs reading: "Beds 15 cents a night, $1 
per week," "Shave 5 cents, hair cut 10 cents," "Meals 5 
cents up," "Dinner 10 cents and up." So you can live as 
you desire. These are unusual bargains. A public soup 
house is maintained for the jobless men at present by the 
city, but at the end of a week the man must have work or 
move out of town, and it makes him get out. They claim 
many floaters have come from Canada because of the war. 
They want to be soldiers of the cross rather than soldiers of 
firearms. They tell me many are Americans who had de- 
clared allegiance to King George, and now like Bryan and 
"watchful waiting" much better, and President Wilson is 
such a nice man. But to be out of work and no money 
any price is high trying to live. The competition for exist- 
ence here is strong and as time goes on will be more severe, 
because of strange people from strange lands who seek the 
lowest channels of existence and gather the fruits from the 
tree of prosperity — and save. That is real competition. 

Going down to the jumping off place of one of the main 
streets I noticed two Japs in the clothing business and on 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

the window was "Stern-Clothing." Evidently the Jap 
had undermined his competitor and left the sign for busi- 
ness reasons. The new owners were smiling and seemed 
happy. Nearby I noticed one poor fellow had a fire the 
night before, and having a desire to know the name of the 
unfortunate fellow, I glanced up over the entrance and 
saw the name "Marcus." 



Victoria, B. C, Feb. 22. 

THIS city is finely situated for shipping facilities, is 
a beautiful city and the climate is ideal. It is located 
on an island, is the capital, and contains about 60,000 in- 
habitants. It has no factories, and no minerals, except coal, 
and has some lumber interests. Aside from fishing and 
lumber interests there is nothing here but climate. 

The war has aflfected Canada very much. In front of 
the newspaper offices you will see men and women with an 
anxious expression on their faces reading the bulletins, the 
same as you would see them in Des Moines watching the 
baseball score. Now this is because many Canadians have 
gone to the front and the newspapers post up the news as 
fast as it comes in. Twelve hundred went from this city 
last week and 600 more have signed to go. The sad part 
of it is that all the enlistments are coming from the farms 
and none from the cities, and Canada needs farmers to 
cultivate her broad acres, and not soldiers. If the war 
continues long Canada will be in bad shape and in fact 
she is getting in bad shape now. Many of her factories 
have closed down and thousands of idle men are floating 
around the cities. Laboring men in this city tell me there 
are more than three thousand idle men here alone with no 

8 



BY LAND AND SEA 

work of any kind to do^ and they know nothing about 
farming. 

Another thing is bad here. Of the 60^000 people, 
10,000 are Cliinamen and they have gone into all lines of 
business enterprises, and own some of the best business and 
residence property in the city. I saw three blocks in the 
business center they own. They are breeding like rats. They 
have reduced the wages of laboring men from $2.50 to 
$1.50. They are reliable, do not drink and are always on 
the job, hence the white man prefers them as servants. 
They will live to the number of fifteen or twenty in one 
residence, on rice and cheap foods, and this a white man 
will not do. They do nearly all the truck gardening and 
have no competition, except from a few Italians. Only a 
few Japs are here and about 400 Indians. It is only a 
question of time the white man will have to surrender here 
to the Chinaman, unless he lives as his competitor does, 
and so it has been throughout the ages. 

The Chinaman sends all his savings to China, except 
what he invests in real estate, and when he dies his bones 
go back also. He refuses to become a citizen and takes no 
interest in civic or governmental affairs. Such a person 
is not a good citizen on this continent. At this moment it 
is the Canadian who is helping England, not the Chinaman. 

Here you have a peaceful contest beginning small and 
gradually expanding into a strong force as generations come 
and go, and thus you see one race being crowded into a 
corner by another race, which in time becomes extinct, a 
race in history. The kaiser is right ; a yellow peril is spread- 
ing unless you put up or close the gates; and California is 
right, if she wants to keep her possessions and live as 
Anglo-Saxons desire to live. OtherAvise she must do as 
her competitor does, stack human beings in any old shape 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

like sacks of flour^ one above another, and live on rice; or 
surrender. The end is plain. Here they occupy some of 
the nicest looking houses in the city, have pianos, and seem 
to be enjoying life in their way, for all are comfortably 
dressed and the sidewalks are crowded with them. 



Victoria, B. C. 

THIS is one of the cleanest cities I have ever been in. 
Most of the streets are paved with asphalt and they 
are smooth and clean as a floor. I wish my friend Myerly 
was with me to see how things should and ought to be 
done. And Mayor Hanna would admit there might be 
some improvement. But how are you going about it?" 

There are so many Chinese here they have their own 
schools and publish a paper in their own language. A 
few years ago this province levied a tax of $500 on every 
Chinaman coming in and he pays it and comes, but the 
legislators overlooked the kids, and they are being pro- 
duced in bunches. 

The city is managed by thirteen councilmen, elected at 
large, and paid each $400 a year. The mayor gets $4,000 
a year, but they reduced his salary this year because of 
hard times. Everything seems to be managed well and 
beauty and flowers and shrubbery abound everywhere. Sin- 
gle men working for the city get $1.50 and married men 
$2.25 per day. 

They are now struggling with the jitney. About 150 
sprang up all at once and took the best streets, thus re- 
ducing the revenue of the city railway to an extent that 
the railway is taking off cars and reducing the service to 
the suburbs, and the kicks are coming thick and fast. All 

10 



BY LAND AND SEA 

being new and appearing in a night, there is no law regu- 
lating them, so different propositions are pending, one to 
compel them to give a bond and pay a fair license to use 
the streets. Up to date there have been some accidents and 
some deaths. I think it will evolve finally into a bus carry- 
ing ten or more people, and in this form it has come to stay 
and will be an important factor in city transportation. 

Parliament is in session, so I visited it today. British 
Columbia has a territory three or four times larger than 
Iowa, and all and some more important questions to con- 
sider than arise in the Iowa legislature. Yet right in line 
with the good and sensible suggestions made by Governor 
Clark, forty-two men sitting as one body enact all the laws 
and transact all the business coming before such a body. 
Forty are conservatives and two socialists. The place of 
meeting is not a large room, but rich and impressive. The 
desks are arranged in two rows on each side of a passage- 
way between them, and facing each other. They discuss the 
questions that arise just like a board of directors of a large 
corporation. They meet at 2 P. M., and when in session, 
the main entrance to the building is closed by two large iron 
gates. An officer is on guard and no one can enter the hall- 
way leading to the assembly room, without first sending his 
card to a member, and if admitted, the member goes to the 
hallway, called the lobby at this time, and receives his caller 
there, and if he remains he is sent to the public gallery. 

The province is divided into forty-two precincts, accord- 
ing to population, each precinct electing a member. The 
assembly, when organized, elects a speaker from its mem- 
bership and while in session he wears a robe. The lieuten- 
ant governor general opens the session, and when it finishes 
its work, usually at the end of six weeks, he calls and closes 
it. It is an honorable position only. That of governor 

11 



ALONG THE 1P A C I F I C 

general is also. He draws a salary of $4,000 a year, but 
a magnificent mansion is maintained for him. The members 
are elected for four years, and most of them are strong, 
magnificent looking men. They impress you that they have 
been trained for that kind of work. You know with us 
preachers, lawyers, dentists, doctors, mechanics, etc., must 
be educated and show their fitness for the calling chosen 
before they are permitted to follow it, but any old thing is 
good enough to make our laws often affecting seriously our 
life, property and happiness. I believe legislators should 
be trained and educated for that line of work, also. 

When the parliament is ready to vote on a proposition 
the doors are locked and at one end of the room on the 
inside in front of the doors a large brass rod is placed and 
at the other the mace is brought in, followed by locking 
the doors at that end of the room, and thus you have, with 
all the solemnity and dignity of a funeral, the enactment 
of a statute, by the serious casting of a vote of each mem- 
ber after thorough consideration. With all this form and 
observation of ceremony in the passage of laws, the peo- 
ple look on them with awe and respect. No wonder laws 
are obeyed when so passed. No wonder the people are 
law-abiding and God-fearing. The making of laws affect- 
ing humanity, for their weal or woe, is a serious business 
and should be acted upon and treated with the greatest 
solemnity. 



Vancouver, B. C. 

VICTORIA and Vancouver are two cities largely resi- 
dential and the mecca for tourists. The latter strikes 
for commercial life and has made some material progress 

12 



BY LAND AND SEA 

in that line. It is the terminal in the west of large rail- 
road interests. 

Troubles for the Dominion of Canada are in the future, 
and are approaching rapidly. There is a strong under cur- 
rent of unrest with the middle and lower classes. You feel 
it if you circulate among them and have the instinct to 
recognize it. It is here and is gradually spreading and 
getting stronger. The liberal element is going to gain in 
the next election and make inroads on the conservative 
forces. 

Three great railroads dominate, and with skilled diplo- 
macy, influence materially public officials and public or 
governmental tendencies. They are the Canadian Pacific 
railway, the Grand Trunk and the Canadian Northern. The 
Dominion government has advanced enormous amounts of 
money and large land grants to each of these corporations 
to strike out and develop this great territory. To the 
Canadian Pacific alone it gave fifty millions of dollars and 
fifty millions of square miles of land, the sale of which to 
date has brought to this road an average of $7 an acre. It 
is one of the most powerful railroads in the world, owning 
ships, both freight and passenger, on the Atlantic and 
Pacific oceans, the lakes, wherever there is freight, and a 
line of hotels in Canada, for magnificence and splendor 
nowhere equaled in the world — all managed and directed 
to initiate, control and handle transportation to all parts 
of the world. The controlling interests in all these roads is 
owned by the wealthy of Great Britain — Old England. 
England does not stop there. Her subjects do not stop 
there. They own the gas, electric light and city railways in 
the important cities. Now, what is the result.'' Freight 
rates are high and city franchise corporations charge all 
the traffic will bear. Food stuffs are therefore high and 

13 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

living is high, with industrial enterprises in the manufac- 
turing line small and scarce, labor is having a rocky time. 
England wants to do the manufacturing itself and it wants 
Canada to produce the foods. 

About two years ago Western Canada began to feel the 
approach of hard times and it continued from bad to worse 
until last summer when the people noticed a slight improve- 
ment, and the starting of the war relieved the situation. 
Had it not been for the war bread riots would have occurred 
from one end of the Dominion to the other. 

The English people tell me that 80 per cent of the 
enlistments from Canada are Englishmen by birth and very 
few Canadians are enlisting for war. Soldiers are paid 
$7.70 per week with board, clothes and medical attention, 
etc. The men being out of work with no money and no 
prospect of work, the only alternative is to join or starve. 
With credits being denied by Great Britain, Canada is 
driven to her own resources to care for the people and her 
troubles are juSt beginning if this war continues any length 
of time. It will cause a debt of two to three hundred mil- 
lions to finance her part of the war, which will materially 
increase the cost of living, and with no income for the 
masses, living is high at any price. These are the problems 
Canada is trying to solve. 

In Vancouver the theaters are closed most of the time, 
three hotels are in the hands of receivers and to add to all 
the other troubles, the Dominion Trust company failed for 
five millions, catching thousands of people. The stories 
you hear are pathetic. 

The landlords in Vancouver beg the merchants to re- 
main and keep the lights burning. I talked with one mer- 
chant who had been paying $350 per month, was paying 



14 



BY LAND AND SEA 

$100 now. In Victoria a jeweler had been paying $160 
per month, the rent was cut to $75 last fall, and on March 
1, it goes to $50 per month. 

Now with all these trials and tribulations I want to say 
the streets are clean and kept up in fine shape, and Vic- 
toria has fort}'^ miles of asphalt paving to look after. They 
have small receptacles fastened to the lamp posts where all 
waste paper is thrown and you dare not "spit on the side- 
walk." Now I hope my friend Myerly will think this over, 
and with Mayor Hanna's kindly advice and assistance, will 
give the people of Des Moines a rvm for their money. The 
streets of Des Moines and the general appearance of the 
same remind me of the farmer's scarecrow erected in the 
garden to keep the birds from stealing the peas, when you 
compare them with the streets and sidewalks in every city 
I have seen, without exception. What have the people of 
Des Moines done that they should be so punished ? 

What will Canada do with the problems confronting 
her? Solve them in due time and solve them to bring the 
greatest happiness to her people. 

I have visited her courts. The judges and solicitors are 
robed while attending court. The floors are covered with 
heavy carpet to produce quiet. The witness is seated in a 
dock, not a chair. The furniture and surroundings impress 
you with the power and dignity of law and government. 
Even the policemen are well dressed, coat buttoned to the 
chin, alert and on the job performing their duties. They are 
polite and courteous, but not dummies. The government is 
everything, everywhere. The people are busy trying to make 
both ends meet and expect the government to protect them 
in their pursuits, and they do get protection, even against 
mobs. 



16 



ALONGTHEPACIFIC 

Vancouver, B. C, Feb. 25. 

LAST fall this city had a population of nearly 200^000 
people and today they claim about 100^000 only. 
Something has hit the town^ a beautiful city^ with fine 
business houses in all lines, attractive and progressive. 

This hotel. The Vancouver, owned and operated by the 
Canadian Pacific railway, is one of the most magnificent 
structures of its kind I have ever seen, costing hundreds 
of thousands of dollars. The silverware alone cost $50,000, 
and it takes about three hundred people to manage and 
keep it in operation. It is here to build up transportation, 
but we in America do not get business that way, and is it 
right or a good thing to permit railroads to do so-f* 

This city has, or had last fall, about 35,000 Hindoos, 
Chinese and Japs. Many Hindoos unable to get work have 
gone home. They live on flour and water mixed and made 
into pancakes at a cost of 10 cents a day. The Chinese 
and Japs live and compete with white labor the same as 
they do at Victoria. Hindoos and Japs come in free, but 
Chinese men pay $500 and women $1,000 to get in. 

Fourteen thousand men are being fed by the city. The 
city makes them work for bed and board. The streets and 
walks are in fine shape and clean and smooth, many being 
asphalt. I wish my friend Myerly could only be with me 
and enjoy the pleasant sensations of having things so nice. 
I want him to take what I say to heart and be good and do 
better. I want him to continue to read my letters. 

Everything is "left" here. I was almost caught twice 
by automobiles, but after taking in the custom, have been 
all right since. Vehicles are not permitted to stand at the 
curb. I want Mayor Hanna to listen to this. They are 
compelled to stand in the middle of the street on streets 



16 



BY LAND AND SEA 

not having car lines. This keeps the curbs free on both 
sides, a rule which permits customers to land on walks or 
enter stores without being dumped in the middle of the 
streets and taking chances on getting injured; also in case 
of fire, the wagons have a clear curb to begin work without 
delay. Now this is plain common sense and good judgment. 
The curb parking at Des Moines is unsightly and dangerous 
both to life and property. Why not try it.'' 

Rents have taken a tumble. Houses, modern in every 
way, have dropped 50 per cent. A $4-0 flat a year ago now 
rents for $20. Business rents have fallen the same. The 
landlords, however, have been wise and asked tenants to re- 
main at half the former rental. I notice several closing out 
just the same. Outside of this hotel and a bank building 
no building of any kind is going on. It is estimated that 
60,000 Americans have gone back to the States since last 
fall. Contractors and laboring men feel there will not be 
much building for the next three or four years. 

Victoria and Vancouver will grow in time, however, be- 
cause they are the only cities in Canada having a mild cli- 
mate, and as Canada increases in wealth the people will 
drift here to live on their incomes. It ranges from 15 de- 
grees above in winter to 75 in summer — with "views" 
galore. 

The city has the old ward system. There are sixteen 
aldermen drawing $600 per year each and the mayor gets 
$6,000. The people feel there is corruption in city manage- 
ment and want a change. They are conservative, however, 
and need some one like Mayor Hanna to waken them up — 
at least with a lawsuit or two. 

One thousand two hundred soldiers are in camp here 
to leave for the front March 1. Thev feel the war will 



17 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

end in May or June. That is the prevailing sentiment 
here, and it is best to let it be so. 

The business men have printed large signs covering the 
bill boards: "You are out of work — ^Why.^' Because you 
have helped to purchase and pay for $1,360,000,000 worth 
of foreign-made goods in the past two years." The apple 
growers are protected with 43 cents tariff per barrel. They 
are demanding a greater protection. Such is life. These 
are things for the people in the United States to think 
about — and our Wilson tariff. 



Seattle, Wash. 

THROUGH the kindness of Mayor Gill I had the pleas- 
ure of a one hundred mile trip in his automobile with 
him and his friend, W. W. Brainard, formerly connected 
with the Post Intelligencer and now on the park board, 
over the city of Seattle and its boulevards. I saw it from 
several viewpoints and it is truly a beautiful city just in 
its infancy in importance and growth. 

It has about two hundred and twenty miles of paved 
streets, two hundred of which are asphalt. The oldest 
asphalt in the city has been down about thirteen years and 
so far has required practically no repairs. It looks well 
and is in fine shape. All the paving I have seen and have 
been over is in fine shape. The city gives the credit for 
its fine paving and good streets to a Mr. Thompson, who 
was city engineer for several years and laid out many of 
the streets and personally looked after the paving of them. 
He is now in the employ of British Columbia at a salary 
of $15,000 a year building a national park for that govern- 
ment. 

18 



BY LAND AND SEA 

The boulevards circle the foots of the hills. There are 
lots of them, connecting up the parks in the diiferent sec- 
tions of the city, so you can drive all day on finely paved 
and nicely cared for streets, making it an enjoyable place 
to live. 

The city gathers the garbage and burns it, taking the 
ashes to fill in ground belonging to the city, covering it over 
each evening with four inches of soil, and in a short time 
it becomes rich soil, valuable land for the city. In this 
way the city feels it is saving thousands of dollars. The 
dirt it has been excavating from the hills it sells to private 
parties and receives 30 cents a yard for it. In this way 
it has filled for private parties about one thousand acres 
fifteen feet deep, land which is now being used for fac- 
tories and railroad terminals, the estimated value after 
filling being one hundred million dollars. The Union Pacific 
alone paid ten millions for a portion of this ground for 
railroad purposes. The city is greatly benefited by this 
made ground for it is needed for industries of one kind 
and another that will come to the city for locations from 
time to time and it has no place to put them otherwise. 

The city officials, especially the mayor, think this city 
has a correct solution of the jobless man. They want to 
relieve the situation or condition as it presents itself with- 
out encouraging idleness, and at the same time bridge men 
over to a period when the industries that shut down during 
the winter season start up again. Men, if so inclined, can 
go to the harvest fields and earn during the harvest season 
from three hundred to five hundred dollars. Some do this 
and some return to the city and spend it in a month in 
drink and bad living, and then become a burden on the 
industrious and the saving. This has always been so and 
will continue to be so in the future. Human nature is 

19 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

about the same the world over and in all ages. Poor peo- 
ple have poor ways of doing things. "The poor ye have 
with you always." 

Seattle established the Hotel Liberty last fall. It is 
a three-story building and at the opening it had about 2,500 
men, which number now has been reduced to about 800. 
Every man who applies for food and bed is sent here. To 
enter he is forced to take a bath and the clothes he wears 
are steamed or sterilized to kill any lice or disease he may 
possess. He is then given a roll-up ; that is, he rolls himself 
in a blanket and other covering and lies down on the bare 
floor, with no cot, no bed — nothing more. His food is coffee, 
bread, rice, soup, fish, etc. For a week's lodging and board 
of this character he is compelled to work for the city two 
days each week so long as he enjoys the hospitality of the 
Hotel Liberty, and when he gets tired or can do better he 
moves out. Otherwise he can remain as long as he desires. 
The plan seems to have worked well and before long the 
Hotel Liberty will be empty. The city has made many im- 
provements with this kind of labor. The men paid for the 
board and lodging and the city paid for the labor. Without 
charity in any form, why is it not an honorable business 
transaction.^ Why should a hard working man who saves 
and lives right be taxed to support the lazy man, wasteful 
both of his money and energies? 

These men should do some work for what they enjoy, 
be it much or little. The municipality should provide the 
work on a business basis of this kind, to care for all. To 
care for a few at high wages, as Des Moines was doing 
when I left, and to force private donations from citizens, 
or drive the men to crime to appease their hunger, is not 
getting anywhere. 

The condition of so many jobless men who wasted their 

20 



BY LAND AND SEA 

money in saloons has forced the people in this state to 
make the state go dry on Jan. 1, 1916. The city officials 
regret the loss of $350,000 per year, but men well posted 
tell me it is here to stay. A seaport town makes new con- 
ditions for city officials to contend with and they fear much 
trouble in Seattle with its enforcement. A very large 
brewery that ships to Australia and New Zealand must 
close and it has $500,000 in orders now for those countries. 
There are over 300 saloons, hence over 300 business fronts 
will be vacant and the business men are taking a gloomy 
view of the future. 

Mayor Gill is an odd man, but I like him. He is smart, 
a good politician, plain and simple in dress and language, 
a man everyone can approach and get a hearing. He smokes 
his cob pipe and enjoys it. He is against frills and isms, 
and is not much stuck on municipal ownership. He is try- 
ing to the best of his ability to give the city a good admin- 
istration and is working for the future. He means well 
and wants to do right and has many friends, even among 
children. The women voted him out and then voted him 
back again. His salary is $7,500 and the nine aldermen 
receive $3,600 each per annum. 

He is much interested in "play fields," in other words, 
playgrounds for children. There are nineteen of these 
from five acres to fifteen acres each, located in the poorer 
settlements. I visited one in the Russian Jew settlement. 
It had a large building two stories high with all kinds of 
amusements on the grounds, and in the building all modern 
conveniences with small pool tables for the children and 
other indoor games. A stage at one end of a large room 
is fitted up for plays or music. In this room they have 
municipal dances and the building is open during the day 
until ten o'clock at night. Fully fifty-two boys and girls 

21 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

were there, some fine looking children, rehearsing for a play 
to be given that night. A man had charge of the boys and 
a woman the girls. They seemed to be excited, anticipating 
much pleasure that evening. A fee of 10 cents is charged, 
and the mayor informed me that it was almost self-sustain- 
ing. It looked good to me, wholesome, clean and attractive. 
It was all right and doing good, no doubt of it. The boys 
and girls were there and not on the streets, with parents 
later joining them. 

The handling of lazy and delinquent husbands is dis- 
posed of in a novel way in the city. It has a stockade 
where such individuals are confined and employed by the 
city on public work for which the men receive $1.50 a day, 
board and lodging. But the $1.50 is paid to the wife for 
the support of herself and children. Iowa sends them to 
the penitentiary. I believe the former milder and better in 
every way. 

I have observed many things in the west. In my travels 
east the people are so conservative your watch would lose 
time and you would have to move the hands forward. In 
the west they are so progressive and aggressive you are 
compelled to turn the hands of your watch back. It is in 
the atmosphere and envelops you everywhere, and if you 
are here long you join the procession and imagine things, 
and some things are real. 

Now I had a lady friend here who desired to give me 
a dinner and asked me to shop with her, which I was only 
too glad to do. We called at the market place and made a 
few purchases, and then she bargained for two young fries. 
This sounded good to me because I always have been fond 
of home-fried chicken. She bought two — the only ones 
the butcher had left — at a cost of $1.30. A little dried-up 
woman who stood at my left was buying some pigs' feet. 

22 



BY LAND AND SEA 

I was standing between the two women. The clerks tied 
both packages up about the same time and both were placed 
in the carrier basket for the cashier, and my friend quickly 
stepped over to pay the cashier and returned to me to say 
something and we both unconsciously started out, and when 
we got to the sidewalk, we missed our chickens. We re- 
turned, and the woman who bought the pigs' feet for 23 
cents had exchanged packages on us. I had to laugh but 
my friend was unable to see any joke in it. I insisted on 
an adjustment because we had never got possession of 
the package. The market man finally took our view and 
wanted to have us take a rooster. He felt of its muscles 
and assured us it was about as tender as a hen. My friend 
yielded and accepted the rooster and went home. She 
worked with that rooster over a hot fire for three hours, and 
the more it was fried the tougher it seemed to get. When 
we beheld it on the table in front of us, we felt our troubles 
had ended, but I am willing to swear that that rooster had 
trained longer and oftener than Jeffries to become king 
of the barnyard, and if he never became king, he ought to 
have been. He was some chicken even at the finish. 

Moral: Always look after your investments, especially 
in the west. A lot of bright fellows, including women, are 
living by their wits and on opportunities offered by the gen- 
tle and thoughtless. 



Seattle, Wash. 

THIS city is governed possibly as well as any city on 
the Pacific coast. It contains 300,000 people or more, 
all boosters, who think it the only place on earth. The 
commercial spirit is fine and reminds one of the aggres- 

23 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

sive business spirit of Chicago. It has many financially- 
strong business houses, wide awake and up to date. It is 
growing and has a fine future. As Alaska develops this 
city will get most of the trade. The assay office now re- 
ceives over a million dollars a month of gold dust which is 
converted into cash and much of it is invested in this city. 
This will increase materially in time. 

The climate is fine, and the wet, or winter season, is 
not objectionable. The rains are mostly mists. The nights 
are comfortable which gives you a rest for next day's work. 
The winter has many clear days, which are balmy and 
delightful. 

I have met many Iowa people. Some are meeting with 
success and some are not, but I have yet to find one who is 
discontented. At present a depression in business exists 
here as elsewhere, but the conditions are much better here. 
Transportation by water and land is extensive and will 
greatly enlarge with time. 

The lawns are green the year round, are well kept with 
flowers everywhere, many blooming throughout the winter. 

The city had many hard problems to solve to build and 
make a city to grow and become prosperous with steep 
hills everywhere, almost to the water's edge. They were 
engineering problems and they have been measurably well 
solved. At great expense the city cut through hills streets 
beside which the Ninth street cut in Des Moines is only a 
toy. It cut and made good business streets and did it when 
the city was small. Taxes went up so now the people are 
paying 4 per cent on a 60 per cent valuation. This is going 
some and the people now demand a rest for a while, although 
they approve of all that has been done, and want the work to 
continue when they catch up. The dirt was indeed cheap 
so it was dumped on a tract of low ground near the sound 

24 



BY LAND AND SEA 

of IjOOO acres, making valuable sites for factories, ware- 
houses, etc. This was filled up several feet and is now 
regarded very valuable and being occupied. 

The city is managed by nine aldermen elected at large, 
the same as the mayor. Four other positions are selected 
in the same manner. All other offices are filled by appoint- 
ment by the mayor by and with the consent and approval 
of the council. It is really a large per cent of the com- 
mission form of government, the main difference being to 
keep distinct as much as possible the legislative and admin- 
istrative departments of the government, the aldermen be- 
ing confined to the legislative duties alone. 

It seems to be working well and the people are pleased 
with it. The city has all the difficult problems any city 
can possibly have and but little friction exists. Des Moines 
has no difficult problems to handle compared with the ones 
the city has to contend with here. The streets and side- 
walks are in fine shape and clean as a floor. They are 
flushed every night. One man is compelled to take care of 
twenty-four blocks each night and next morning you find 
miles and miles of paving a pleasure to look upon. All 
waste paper is put in nice looking receptacles fastened to 
the lamp posts. Des Moines on a windy day would im- 
press you that the angels were mobilizing in the streets to 
escort the city administration to the cemetery, paper danc- 
ing everywhere and in every direction. Cleanliness and 
efficiency are unknown terms there. 

Asphalt paving prevails here, although it has some 
brick blocks and now experimenting with creosote blocks. 
It owns its own plant to repair asphalt paving and in fact 
repairs all the paving. The city officials tell me that if the 
paring is put down right the repairing does not amount to 
much the first ten years. In the business section it rests 

25 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

on a concrete foundation of eight inches and in the resident 
portion the concrete foundation is six inches. Some of the 
paving has stood the test for seventeen years. I congratu- 
late the property owners of Des Moines for the fine Chris- 
tian spirit manifested these many years and the patience 
and meekness of spirit. They surely will inherit the king- 
dom of heaven. If they do not, they have been wicked in 
other ways. 

Seattle has the finest public market place I have ever 
seen, clean as a kitchen in a fine home. It is open every day 
except Sunday. The city charges for space sufficient to 
maintain it only. It is large and open with a basement 
and one story covered by a shed. The Chinese and Japs 
have gone into truck gardening for miles around and they 
are there, men and women, smiling and well dressed, and 
getting rich. Their stands are so artistically arranged, 
vegetables being constantly washed with water and so pleas- 
ing and inviting that you buy. It is well patronized and 
has reduced the cost of living in the eating line about 30 
per cent. I am in love with the public market place, and 
would like to live here so I could buy the good things to 
eat. And when you think of the Des Moines public market, 
building and all, rough and ready like the rancher in the 
desert, as uninviting as the ingenuity of man can devise, 
you ask, why is this so ? Because of incompetency and want 
of a desire and knowledge to know how things should be 
done. 

I came across a small place serving food. I sat down 
for a meal at one of the tables and invested 20 cents and 
had a fine lunch, starting with a large bowl of vegetable 
soup. Everything is exposed for sale fresh from the sea 
and land. 

In Washington no alien can own land because of a 

26 



BY LAND AND SEA 

prohibitory clause in the state constitution. The Japs and 
Chinese are compelled to lease ground to cultivate. To 
them much of the success should be given. Their work is 
never done. Always plodding along at a high wage if they 
can get it, and if not, then a low wage — to work and save is 
their motto. You will not see a Jap or Chinaman in a 
bread line anywhere. He is making good all along the 
line because of these qualities, and the Anglo-Saxon must 
meet his competition or retire, and he will retire for good 
if he delays it too long. Such is the struggle of life — man 
or beast — all must meet it or die. 



Seattle — Portland, March 9. 

ON MY departure from the state of Washington for 
the state of Oregon, a glance over some social and 
economic conditions might be of some interest to those who 
ask or want to know why things are as they are. 

A laboring man or woman desiring to enter Canada at 
this point must produce $50 or admission is refused. The 
object of this regulation is two fold, to avoid accepting a 
burden and prevent further competition among the laboring 
people in Canada. But the Wilson tariff bill played havoc 
with the lumber mills both in Washington and Oregon. 
Many of them have been closed all winter, throwing thou- 
sands of men out of employment, and with no money and 
nothing to do they naturally drifted into the cities. The 
cities have no factories to speak of outside of saw mills and 
some flouring mills. Tacoma has eighteen saw mills, some 
of them quite large. This will give you some idea of the 
magnitude of the lumber interests out here. And when 
they are closed you will understand why these western cities 
are flooded with jobless men, the largest number ever knoAvn. 

27 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

British Columbia has very large lumber interests, but 
Canada is stagnant from a business standpoint also, charged 
up to the war, and men are idle everywhere. War is only 
one of the reasons ; overbuilding is another. This also will 
apply to every city I have seen on the coast up to date. It 
will take two to five years to catch up, and if the war con- 
tinues, it may take some of them longer. 

The war has materially affected the applegrowers in 
these two states. They had worked up a large foreign trade 
with England and other countries at war. Some of these 
apples sold for 7 to 10 cents apiece in London. With the 
burdens and expenses of war England is not spending its 
money for delicious fruit. The result, Washington and 
Oregon have thousands of boxes of apples in cold storage. 
Many orchards are heavily mortgaged. Owners are get- 
ting in a tight box. Consequently, if you are looking for 
bargains in this line, if conditions continue the same an- 
other year, you will have no trouble picking up bargains. 

But what of the future aside from this? The fact is 
you have a limited market — in other words, over production; 
too many engaged in the business and not enough con- 
sumers. Many men here are in the same condition as the 
cotton farmers in the south, staking their all on one crop. 
It is all right when things move at good prices, otherwise 
it is "a long way to Tipperary." 

The British Columbia lumber interests are going to im- 
prove. While there I noticed several hundred million feet 
were sold to the railroads of the United States. The 
Canadian laborers will be put to work on these contracts. 
They will then have money to buy from the merchants and 
some improvement in business will be noticed. This will 
not be so in Washington and Oregon. The eastern tourists 
alone can help out this section if they come out this far, in 

28 



BY LAND AND SEA 

large numbers. The cities are expecting a big travel and 
are preparing to treat them right and give them a cordial 
reception. 

For views and climate the western coast is the finest 
place in the United States. The state of Washington is 
an empire alone, abounding in all kinds of soil and views 
of nature for beauty surpassed nowhere. The railroads use 
one road bed from Seattle to Portland, 186 miles, making 
this trip by day. It is worth all it costs. A portion of the 
way the Sound is on your right and the Cascade range of 
mountains on your left forty miles away. The soil is rich 
and productive for vegetables of all kinds. They raise 
some oats, but no wheat or corn west of the Cascades. They 
are just cleaning off much of the land and holding it from 
$200 to $1,000 an acre. It is all right for a long winded 
proposition, because they are already long on vegetables 
and short on consumers. There is overproduction in every- 
thing here, except consumers, and it takes a long time to 
raise citizens, hence they are working for tourists who have 
money. It is no place for a man without money. Beauty 
and climate are all right to look at and admire, like a 
beautiful woman, but you must have cash to maintain the 
show. 

I sat on the back platform of the observation car and 
had for companions the engineer and roadmaster of the 
road over which I was traveling. They were thoroughly 
familiar with the road and the country, especially the 
engineer, who was a delightful gentleman and saw that I 
missed nothing, including some of his oranges. 

I observed hundreds of men walking on the tracks with 
rollups on their backs going toward Seattle. The road- 
master, Mr. Donahue, had no use for them, saying they 
were I. W. W. fellows looking for bread and butter with- 

29 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

out work. When night came they would strike a farm house 
and demand and get food. Then to the edge of the tracks 
with a few chips for a fire, they would lie down on their 
roll imtil morning and then proceed on their journey next 
morning. He said they would not work on a bet. The en- 
gineer told me, however, that some of them were honest 
laborers actually looking for work, and no doubt had heard 
that the mills in Washington were going to open up and 
they were making for those points. The Wilson tariff 
bill has hit the coal and lumber interests here a hard blow, 
and when they arrive, they will find many mills operating 
with a reduced force and reduced wages. Everett now has 
a strike on hand because of reduction of wages. 

So with over-production in everything else, there is an 
over-production of laboring men, and because of the limited 
lines of industries to employ labor, you have all along this 
coast and will have for all time, some years more than 
others, the jobless man. 

The jobless man is a natural product of this climate, 
because in a pinch with his roll he can sleep out of doors 
the year round. The alligators, because of climate, are 
found in certain waters. Certain climate produces oranges, 
corn, cotton, wheat, naturally and without much effort, so 
it produces the I. W. W. aided by legislation and agitation, 
and Seattle is headquarters for this disturbing element in 
the human family. They contaminate every one who listens 
or associates with them — cause dissatisfaction and unrest — 
and their teachings are anarchy and violence and death, 
and should be handled in a firm and sensible way. Some 
of the orators have gone east. Every large city should 
provide a block away from business and the busy streets 
a piece of ground where these statesmen can mount a soap 
box and blow off their steam. They should be permitted 

30 



BY LAND AND SEA 

to speak nowhere else. And all other street fakers should 
be compelled to go to the same place. 

There is an organization in Washington called the em- 
ployers' association. It maintains offices to hire working 
men for its members and the record of each man is kept 
like HoUingsworth's Associated Charities of Des Moines. 
No I. W. W. is permitted to get a job. It will not permit 
one to work with what it calls honest laboring men. It 
has been in existence about two years, and its object is to 
avoid strikes and disturbing elements within the family. 
It might be called a protective association, and this is an- 
other reason why a few have gone east to make a friendly 
call on Mr. John D. Rockefeller, "on the Hudson," and 
a few other gentlemen who have ceased to have any more 
business cares, but looking for some delightful engagement 
to turn up. 

They are not wanted out here, but they simply grow 
up in this section, being indigenous like wild raspberries, 
out of the rocks. They thrive and spread with changing 
conditions and end just the same — trusting in the Lord, and, 
some times demanding that fishes and loaves be sent down 
from above, lost and helpless as units in the human family 
to get properly adjusted to the forces that surround them. 
They see and feel and do not comprehend. 



Portland, Ore. 

PORTLAND is the wealthiest, finest and most substan- 
tial city I have visited up to date, and commercially 
in the best condition of any of them so far. The banks 
have eighty millions in deposits, one having almost eighteen 

31 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

millions. The city is well located, surrounded by hills and 
on the Willamette river. The government is now deepening 
the channel to forty feet, and when it is done, the largest 
ships coming up the Columbia river from the ocean can 
anchor at the docks of this city. 

The thing that amuses me most is the rivalry among the 
cities on the coast. They will fight each other at home, 
but they are united against every other portion of the 
United States. And another thing, men of great wealth 
take up things in the way of public improvements and often 
expend their own money to stir the people up to the neces- 
sity of doing that which they think ought to be done. 

Just now Mr. Yeon, a millionaire, is advertising in every 
way the fact that Kings County, Washington, in which Seat- 
tle is located, has one hundred and five miles of hard sur- 
faced roadways and Multnomah County, Oregon, the county 
in which Portland is located, has only three and one-half 
miles of hard surfaced roadway. He thinks this is a shame 
and a disgrace to Portland, so he has a vacant room in a 
big office building he owns, with banners and men employed 
getting signers to have a special election to bond the county 
of Multnomah for $1,250,000 to build hard surfaced roads 
in this county. On his banners he shows by figures that 
the cost, both principal and interest, for a series of bonds 
for ten years, will be only 66 cents a year for each $1,000 
of taxable property. I visited his headquarters and the stir 
this man has worked up and the sentiment coming in con- 
vinces a stranger that he will succeed. His own career has 
been successful and his unselfishness they admit, as well 
as his sincerity, to push Portland to the front. He devotes 
his time to the project and the road already built he per- 
sonally looked after without pay and all admit, without 
exception, a first class job has been done. He is energetic 

82 



BY LAND AND SEA 

and wide awake and full of enthusiasm out of the good 
impulses of his heart in the first place and, secondly, because 
benefits are to be derived by one and all from good public 
highways. 

Of course Iowa has difi'erent conditions to contend with 
from the people out here. Freezing weather as we know it, 
they do not have. It is cold when it gets to 20 degrees above 
zero. So the same methods may not work the same in both 
sections. Yet they have engineering problems here that we 
do not have in Iowa, because of mountains and gulches that 
are gulches. Washington has been issuing bonds for some 
time and has a hard surfaced roadway to the state line of 
Oregon. Oregon wants to take this up and continue it on 
south, eventually as far as San Francisco. 

The roadway is twenty feet wide. A layer of crushed 
stone four inches thick is first laid, after grading the 
roadway. This crushed stone is then surfaced with bitu- 
lithic, and for smoothness and finish as fine as any street 
paved with asphalt. The state of Washington also has 
thirty-seven miles of roadway paved with brick. Now the 
cost of putting down such paving runs from fifteen to 
seventeen thousand dollars per mile. I talked with one of 
the contractors at Seattle and he is here boosting for Port- 
land. The people are for it. They would not think of 
going back to the old roadway. There is only one question, 
are we able to continue and how many more miles ought 
we to build.'' 

These roads are being built for the future generation, 
as well as this one, and the issue of bonds on long time 
is the only sensible and just way to handle the proposi- 
tion. Why should not the burden be spread out over a 
long time for those who get the benefits ? 

33 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

AU admit that the improvements have materially in- 
creased the value of lands. Possibly land thus peculiarly 
benefited should stand a little more than more remote pieces 
of property. 

Iowa has or will have this problem and should get in 
line on some material for the hard-surfacing of the public 
highways. Her rich soil can and should stand the improve- 
ment and the rural population connected with civic, social 
centers would put at rest the migration of her people to 
other states. There is no doubt of that in my mind. 



Portland, Ore. 

THIS is the hardest city I have visited on the coast to 
get honest confessions from its citizens as to local 
conditions. By commingling with all classes of people and 
being a good fellow I have broken the ice at many points. 
For example, I asked Editor Piper of the Oregonian, the 
only morning paper here and the leading one in the state, 
if they had many Chinese and Japs here. He said "No." 
The laboring men tell me there are about 6,000 Chinese and 
not so many Japs. So that is the way it goes. Also as to 
jobless men: "Only a few." They have about 10,000. 
I knew these things must be, because the climate, soil and 
products produced in this state are similar to those in the 
state of Washington. 

The city has but few factories and they are small. There 
are a few j obbing houses and then the people depend on the 
lumber interests, wheat, apples, hops and vegetables. The 
Wilson tariff bill put the lumber mills on the toboggan and 
they have been closed up all winter. Britain took her 



34 



BY LAND AND SEA 

apples, which are now in cold storage, and Germany her 
hops, to the extent of $6,000,000 per year. And her vege- 
tables — no market because of the stagnation. 

Her apple orchards are in the same condition as those 
in the state of Washington. Many are heavily mortgaged 
with apples tied up in cold storage. With no money and 
nothing moving, you can imagine conditions in the city. The 
gentlemen from the east with money invested here in apple 
orchards have been caught good and plenty. They have 
paid local parties three times what they were worth, as I am 
informed by good men here who take the creditor's side, 
making no investments, but loaning money. One old Scotch- 
man told me not to give him away or they would drive him 
out of town. He said they were holding wheat lands near 
Portland at $200 to $300 per acre that were never known 
to produce over twelve to fifteen bushels per acre. It was 
worn out. Rains have washed the good soil away. 

The seasons here are as uncertain as death. The rain 
begins usually about Sept. 1 and continues three or four 
days by spells each week until about May 1. This puts 
corn, hay, clover and alfalfa out of commission because 
you cannot save the crops. This makes dairying expensive 
because you have to ship in feed. 

The above gives you the principal sources of wealth. 

Under these conditions, not expecting a change in the 
tariff laws or a war, Portland went ahead and erected fine, 
large business and office blocks and hotels. The old office 
blocks became vacant as tenants flocked to the new ones, 
and the old ones are still vacant. You can get offices in the 
new blocks modern in every way for $8 to $10 a room. 
Many landlords have cut the rents to business tenants as 
high as 50 per cent, clerks and employes have been re- 



36 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

duced from 10 to 60 per cent in wages in many instances. 
There are some Shylocks who hold to the terms of the lease. 
There were sixty-two failures last year^ one man commit- 
ting suicide. The fires last year cost the insurance com- 
panies $1,500,000. Last month the fire loss here amounted 
to $300,000. The city council is going to investigate the 
cause and punish those who have burned themselves out. 
To a man up a tree it needs no investigation. A fire can- 
cels the lease and converts the goods into cash. What else 
could you expect when the insurance people have been lib^ 
eral in writing policies for business men with such stringent 
financial conditions existing. 

Many residences are vacant all over the city, and house 
rents have been cut from 10 to 30 per cent. This was the 
only wise thing to do. Keep the doors open and the lights 
burning with "watchful waiting" for better times. Watch 
this state in the next presidential campaign. 

So far as I can observe the great majority of the busi- 
ness men are hardly making a living. There is no hope 
in the future under two or three years, if then. They are 
tied and cannot let go — and some will fall by the way- 
side. 

I do not believe there is a hotel in the city making any 
money. I was told that I could go to one of the finest hotels 
in the city and get a room and bath by the month for $25. 
I do not doubt it. 

The city has had about 2,000 men on its hands to feed. 
The majority of them actually want work and cannot get 
it. It is a shame to put legislation in force that will crush 
and ruin business men and drive laboring men to the point 
of starvation. They know the cause here and where to 
place the blame. They have the I. W. W. here, but not 



36 



BY LAND AND SEA 

so strong as in Seattle. I have been in their meetings, 
listened to their speakers, and this wild incendiarism given 
to ignorant, helpless men, and men who are in distress 
should be prohibited. They openly urged the state militia 
be "shot down like curs" when called out to interfere with 
their plans. Free speech is one thing, but language of this 
kind is vicious and leads in the end to one thing — murder. 
Men who talk that way and urge such things are criminals 
at heart, and later by action. To tolerate such only leads 
in time to trouble and bloodshed and anarchy — a suspension 
of law and government. 



Portland, Ore. 

THIS city has about 300 miles of paved streets, 210 in 
equal proportions being asphalt and bitulithic. Some 
asphalt needs some repairs, the balance being in fine shape 
and clean as a floor. The business section is flushed every 
day and the resident section is flushed in the most traveled 
part twice a week and the less traveled once a week. This 
includes all the paving in the city. Paper waste boxes are 
attached the same as I have stated heretofore. Now, I do 
want my friend Myerly and Mayor Hanna to read my let- 
ters carefully as they have done heretofore and take what 
I have been saying to heart, as they formerly did. They 
know I only want them to be good and the advice I am 
now giving them may be my last. They both ought to take 
a trip out here for it's one fare for the round trip and they 
have a dollar towards the expense money. I am paying my 
own expenses, including postage. 

The council as a body took a trip personally to inspect 
complaints where the statements were conflicting, and in- 

37 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

vited me to join them. I did, and we were out four hours. 
The whole council inspected sidewalks with the engineer, 
condemned some, also concrete pavement, a gulch fill, a 
location for a barn, an approach to a bridge and the change 
of the use of a building against which objections had been 
filed. They informed me that this was a frequent occur- 
rence. They discussed the subjects openly and frankly 
like gentlemen and business men. Next day these subjects 
were disposed of in the same manner. To me it was a 
pleasure and a delight. 

They have no city plant to repair the asphalt, but in- 
tend to get one and look after the asphalt paving more 
carefully. The city has just built an incinerating plant at 
a cost of $100,000 to burn the garbage. The ashes are used 
to fill low ground belonging to the city. It is modern in 
every way and up to date, the best one I have seen. The 
city contemplates gathering garbage without expense to 
the people as a wise measure of sanitation. 

This city has the lowest death rate of any city in the 
United States, except Seattle, which is first. Keeping the 
cities clean tells the tale. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. 
Des Moines is as far away from that place as Polk City, 
and I hope Polk City will pardon me for using its name, 
for the modern Polk City is a good town. 

One-third of the population, the wealth, the taxes and 
the votes cast at an election in the state of Oregon are in 
this city. There is lots of individual wealth here. With 
the push and energy of all Portland, it will pull through 
and grow larger and better than ever on the return of bet- 
ter times. 

A few Iowa and Des Moines people are here and they 
all look fine. Geo. L. Van Dyke, former postmaster; Will 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Buchanan^ former city editor of the Capital; Guy Talbut, 
president of gas company here; Tom Burke, who used to 
practice law, is here connected with the custom house. He 
looks fine and fat. 

But the most interesting of them all are two bachelor 
maids, a bungalow and a big white tomcat. They heard 
I was in town, and they insisted that I give all of a Sun- 
day while here to them. They did not know it, but I 
jumped at the chance and spent the day, six miles out, in 
one of the finest little bungalows I have seen in a long time. 
It is made of logs, has a fireplace, and is located on an 
acre of ground next to the timber, on an interurban which 
passes by the front door. Flowers cover the lawn, and 
they have berries and fruits of all kinds, much more than 
they can use. They can all they need. They have a vic- 
trola, the house is nicely furnished, and they gave me a 
dinner I shall long remember. They have become Chris- 
tian Science advocates, and took me in the forenoon to a 
church in Portland that seats 1,400, and it was practically 
full. Five such churches are here, the others not so large. 
They inquired about all of their old friends and bache- 
lors, especially Walter Coffin and Leon Brown. They did 
not know what these men were hesitating about, especially 
Coffin. I suggested possibly Walter was bashful. The 
girls are happy, enjoy good health and are thoroughly in 
love with this country, and I do not blame them, for they 
are happily and cosily situated. One taught in the public 
schools of Des Moines, and the other did newspaper work 
for many years. They are Miss Elizabeth Matthews and 
her sister, Miss Nellie, Oak Grove, Oregon. 



39 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Portland, Ore. 

THE jitney is here the same as elsewhere. About 400 
are running and many accidents have occurred. The 
council has been thrashing out an ordinance and has sub- 
stantially agreed upon the regulation to be adopted. 

The county has a rock pile and the mayor of this city 
is now urging a similar place. The county has a fine court 
houscj eight stories high, the top two stories being used for 
jail purposes. It is clean, the best conducted and arranged 
I have ever seen. One hundred and seventy-eight prisoners 
are now confined for one offense and another, including some 
women, nearly all the women being dope subjects. The 
cages are steel, open, with three cots to the cage. The place 
is modern and sanitary in every way. 

The "umbrella market," the kind Des Moines should 
have adopted, is here and a success. Posts are placed along 
the curb, covered by a sloping roof. Each section has a 
platform for the gardener to stand on extending about three 
feet in the street, then a stand upon which the goods are 
displayed over the sidewalk. Both fold up at night and 
the city cleans up and takes all the refuse away. These 
stands rent for 10 cents a day and no one can rent one 
unless he is a grower of the products he offers for sale. 
Private parties have taken advantage of the situation and 
cut their buildings into small rooms opposite and there 
the peddler competes. Now this arrangement extending 
three blocks has cost the city just $5,680. I want to call 
Mayor Hanna's attention to this feature. The market is 
a success. The Chinese and Japs are there in large num- 
bers and they are good merchants in good things to eat. 
It is well patronized because things are cheap. 

The city has two comfort stations, one stationed at the 
postoffice corner under the sidewalk and the other about 

40 



BY LAND AND SEA 

seven blocks away. E,ach for both men and women, both 
free, except there is a small charge if a party desires to 
pay. They have hot and cold water, a small towel and 
soap free. The two cost $16,000 and cost $7,200 a year 
to maintain. A man and woman are in charge, in two shifts 
of eight hours each. Open from 7:30 a. m. until late at 
night, the stations are clean, attractive and well patron- 
ized, but the city feels too much was expended for them 
and more simple and modest affairs should have been built. 

In the center of the city a public park, two blocks long, 
is the poor man's resting place. Benches are well filled 
most of the time, especially on Sunday. This seems to be 
a good idea for it costs nothing to reach it. 

The commission form of government is being tried here 
for the first time. People are greatly interested and some 
are commending and some are finding fault, but I think 
the city is to be congratulated in having a reasonably fair 
commission. The mayor gets $6,000 and the four com- 
missioners $5,000 per year each, and they are compelled to 
devote all their time and energies to the business of the 
city. They are apparently doing this in good faith and the 
people must expect some friction at first, and if they con- 
duct themselves as they should, conflicts must arise because 
of conflicting interests. 

I took a trip of thirty miles with the roadmaster, Mr. 
J. D. Yeon, the millionaire who is working without salary 
for good roads, and Mr. E. B. Hazen, vice-president of 
the Bridal Veil Lumber company, to see the Columbia high- 
way. 

The people of Des Moines will remember Mr. Hazen 
as the son of Dr. E. H. Hazen, who practiced on the eyes 
and ears there many years ago. This young man is 36 
years of age and has charge of the big lumber mills at 

41 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Bridal Veil. They employ 300 men and are cutting 125,- 
000 feet a day, working on 20 per cent capacity. Every- 
thing is operated by water power. 

To see the Columbia highway as it is being constructed 
in the mountains, I was compelled to walk six miles, and I 
am williiig to confess that the last mile was as long as 
the first five — no doubt of it. The grades bothered me and 
my wind was not at all times in good working order, and 
possibly it might have been the machinery. They expect 
the bonds to be voted and this road hard-surfaced by June, 
and when completed will be one of the finest and most pic- 
turesque drives on the coast. Beautiful scenery is along 
the way, because it borders on the Columbia river. This 
roadway will connect with the roadway in Washington 
and you can imagine what automobile traveling will be in 
the near future. 

All along the route to the mountains prosperous truck 
gardening and dairy farming abound and this roadway will 
be great for the owners of the land. It gives them easy 
access to the city of Portland, a city of 260,000 people. 

Seattle has been built largely by eastern money. This 
is not the case with Portland. Local capital has done nearly 
everything. A dry goods firm is now building a fourteen 
story building in which to do its increasing business. 

The wealth has come largely from lumber. Some of 
the old settlers tell some funny stories how the title to some 
of the timber lands was obtained. A boat was put on a 
wagon, a man got in the boat and a team pulled this elabor- 
ate afi'air over the mountains. Simple enough. But this 
enabled the man in the boat to make an affidavit that he 
rode over the land in a boat — evidence that it was swamp 
land, and our bright government officials passed the title. 
So goes the world in the scramble to get rich — what for? 

42 



BY LAND AND SEA 

To become foolish often in display. Not all did this. You 
can appreciate now how many things used to be done while 
you were asleep. Those days in this country are gone for- 
ever. This country is still rich and is just in its infancy. 



Portland — San Francisco. 

ON YOUR departure from Portland to the south you 
have only two ways to go, the old way and the new, 
the Southern Pacific and "Jim Hill's" new boats, each a 
palace carrying 600 passengers a trip and everything fur- 
nished for thirty dollars. The railroad has the "Shasta" 
limited and the night train. The Shasta makes it eight 
hours quicker than the night train, gives about the same 
daylight journey and charges you five dollars extra for the 
privilege. Jim Hill's boats make the trip one hour quicker 
than the "Shasta." However, I wanted to see the "views" 
and being short on money and long on time I took the old 
train and enjoyed every minute of the trip. 

It is 776 miles from Portland to San Francisco, two 
nights and a day. But by going to bed late and getting up 
early, surrounded by persons disposed to make things both 
lively and interesting, you do not notice the time viewing 
the beautiful scenery. And owing to the climate I find 
the people are not so formal as in the east, and this in- 
cludes the ladies. If your tie is on right, giving every 
appearance that you are "safe" for a woman to drive, and 
will not get scared at baby carriages or loose paper blowing 
in the street, she would never think of refusing your invi- 
tation to dine in the dining car or walking on the depot 
platform for a "breath of fresh air." Youth and old age, 
beauty and otherwise, seem to line up easily and gracefully 

43 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

and in the most informal manner. This seems to be in the 
climate, a climatic condition producing ease and pleasure. 
We had three instances of it on our train. Everybody 
speculates out here and you might say it's another species 
of speculation for better or for worse. 

The scenery in northern California is very similar to 
that in Oregon, and you do not pass the Oregon line into 
California until 1 :30 P. M. the next day. Oregon is almost 
twice the size of Iowa. The scenery is constantly changing, 
varied, charming and beautiful in every way. The Sacra- 
mento river starts in the Siskiyou mountains over and 
through which your train passes many times, for there are 
many tunnels and many elevations to climb. At one place 
the elevation is 4,100 feet in sixteen miles. We had thir- 
teen coaches, which required three large engines to pull us 
over this point. There were no accidents of any kind. The 
journey was slow and the curves numerous. Many times 
you could sit in the observation car and see your engines 
making the turn ahead. The train crosses the Sacramento 
river eighteen times. It is small, but gradually enlarges and 
becomes quite a river when it empties into the San Francisco 
bay. It is swift and some places deep, affording great 
water power which some day will be used on a large scale. 

This section may some day become the manufacturing 
part of the United States, because of its water power exist- 
ing everywhere unused and its cheap fuel in oil. 

Here starts the Sacramento valley and California is full 
of valleys, many of them very productive. Here, too, you 
pass through the Cow Creek valley, romantic in the extreme. 
Bandits have held up three or four night trains at this pas- 
sage and this is another reason I wanted to go through in 
the day time, for the next time it might be the train on 
which you were enjoying a good sleep and the sensation 

44 



BYLANDANDSEA 

might not be in harmony with your dreams of leading a 
simple, beautiful life. And, too, many of us prefer the 
pleasure we get in wasting our money in small quantities, 
rather than in bunches unexpectedly. 

Shasta Springs are just like the country round 
about — interesting and romantic in the extreme — water 
bursting out everywhere, filled with minerals and de- 
licious to drink. It abounds in much soda. The buildings 
erected are in harmony with the surroundings, with a hotel 
located up in the mountains, making it a quiet, serene spot, 
undisturbed — alone. 

The balance of the journey fades into country life with 
cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. This is a pleasant and more 
profitable change, because you get diversified farming, pro- 
ducing things that the human body must and will have. 
Some of the nicest orchards and fruits of all kinds I saw 
in Rogue's valley just near the southern line, close to 
California, a building being erected at the depot to house 
and display the variety of products produced in this local- 
ity. They are asking $1,000 an acre for it, but what is it 
worth when you have no market for the apples now pro- 
duced, and the consumption will not catch up with the 
orchards now planted for several years to come? 

As you approach San Francisco you become much in- 
terested because of many things. You remember 1849, and 
with one event after another, including the building of the 
Southern Pacific and its dominating political influence, even 
at the present time, including the famous Golden Gate, the 
beautiful sunsets, and a harbor having no superior in the 
world, just the place, you say, to build a great city, the 
Creator having provided everything in advance. Then the 
earthquake destroyed fifty-three blocks of buildings in the 
business center only nine years ago, a loss of many people 

45 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

and hundreds of millions of dollars of property. This 
misfortune ruined insurance companies, caused interest rates 
to go up 1 per cent in Iowa. Why then should one not be 
interested as he approaches a beautiful city, where the ruins 
of the earthquake are gone and larger and finer buildings 
occupy the sites of the ruined ones, the city that had the 
courage to complete the Panama exposition, in the face of a 
foreign war involving one-half of the human race, with for- 
eign nations so involved financially and otherwise as to pre- 
clude any thought of participating in any demonstration, 
thus again frustrating the original plans of the people of 
this growing, aggressive city. You must admire the strong 
will and courage displayed. It is the daring and never- 
fail spirit of American citizenship here displayed in all its 
cheerful, confident energy with which it enters on enter- 
prises, the initiative in the human mind, when not molested 
or interfered with by vicious laws or crazy legislation, that 
impresses you. 

I saw the sunrise, most beautiful, the handling of the 
people, efficient and with ease, the spirit of business and 
enterprise in every direction, and a genial, good feeling 
towards all. New strange friends showed me every kind- 
ness and courtesy — just what every up-to-date American 
city should do for all strangers. This is the way I arrived 
in San Francisco, the most cosmopolitan city in the 
United States. 



San Francisco, Cat. 

SPEAKING of the highwaymen in the Cow Creek val- 
ley, if I did, I should have said Cow Creek canyon. 
Bold bad men do not stay in valleys these days. This can- 



46 



BY LAND AND SEA 

yon is forty miles long and rugged and romantic, just the 
place for bandits to escape. 

I have been to the exposition, and when completed, it 
will be the finest in architecture, blending and harmony of 
colors, arrangement and attractiveness of exhibits, ornamen- 
tation of grounds and driveways of any exposition yet held 
in the United States, The climate enables them to use so 
many tropical plants and trees and flowers of all kinds, 
blending with the soft colors of the buildings, making it a 
most attractive spot, pleasing both to the eye and mind. 

The grounds are one-half mile wide and two and one- 
half miles long, skirting the water's edge of San Francisco 
bay. This bay is large and deep. It is filled with vessels 
of all kinds, including five war vessels, the famous Oregon 
being one of them, which looks small compared with the 
Maryland. At night the ships are beautifully lighted up 
with constant moving searchlights penetrating the darkness 
of night above and below. The story would not be com- 
plete without mentioning that "Lucky" Baldwin, long since 
dead, has a daughter near by in her private yacht likewise 
emblazoned with lights and the stars and stripes floating or 
unfurled to the breezes as large as the war vessels. I was 
told she is divorced. Her name I understood to be Stokes. 
She is spending some of her father's millions. Why is she 
not as lucky as her father, "Lucky" Baldwin.'' 

It will be thirty days before the exhibits are complete. 
This is a big undertaking with everything progressing with- 
out friction. But the management was pressed for funds 
and then the war embarrassed many foreign nations, and 
with it all came the destruction of vessels on the seas, caus- 
ing another hazard that delayed the shipment of foreign 
exhibits. Just yesterday the Japanese goods arrived. Eng- 
land and France have goods now due. It is odd to learn 

47 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

that these goods are being sent in American vessels, but 
such is the case. 

The streets are paved with asphalt and the walks are 
cement, always clean and large enough to make it con- 
venient to get around. Seats and benches abound every- 
where to give comfort and opportunity to rest to every 
visitor. All this has cost millions, intelligently expended; 
but what else could you expect? 

Probably 80 per cent of the exhibits are in place, and 
these are almost complete. The Canadian government has 
made one of the finest and most magnificent displays of 
its wealth of all kinds that I ever saw. In a panoramic 
way it has pictured the fields with fruit and grain and 
minerals with moving ships and trains so real that you 
imagine you are looking into the heart of Canada. This 
alone is worth a trip of a few hundred miles to see. 

I have been in many of the state buildings, including 
the Iowa building. And I want to say here that if I were 
a member of the Iowa legislature, I would be ashamed to 
go home without voting for an appropriation to pay for the 
actual cost of this building. No rich state like Iowa can 
afford to be mean and little toward native citizens who had 
the pride and love for their state to see that it was repre- 
sented in a simple, dignified way with forty-seven other 
states and foreign countries in the greatest exposition yet 
held in the United States. 

The location of the building is fine, its architecture is 
good and its large reception room is most pleasing. The 
furniture is simple and in good taste. The young lady 
told me they were expecting some rugs almost any day now. 
When they do come and are placed you need not be ashamed 
of the Iowa building, and I urge every senator and repre- 
sentative to come out and register his name, and when he 

48 



BY LAND AND SEA 

does^ he will say. Amen. I know my friends, Hon. C. W. 
Miller and Hon. J. O. Allen will shake hands and say, a 
good work well done. So say all. 

Of course, you could not have an exposition without 
having a midway plaisance or something of that kind. 
They have one here and call it the Zone. You find it well 
occupied and well patronized at night. In day time it is 
very tame, but at night you cannot say so much. I remem- 
ber a well known divine concluded to take his wife down 
the Midway Plaisance at the Chicago exposition. When 
they took the fatal step, he turned to his wife and said, 
"Dear, we can now see the wickedness of the world under 
the guise of respectability." So it is here. You have all 
kinds of entertainments from Creation, Grand Canyon, in- 
cubators for babies, race for life, diving girls, rush of '49, 
wild west show, streets of Cairo and smile, it is painless, 
etc., to sandwiches and real apple cider. 

I took some of them in and some took me in. I went 
through Chinatown as it used to be. Glad I went. It 
was truly educational to me and ought to be an impres- 
sive lesson to all dope users. We were finally led into a 
den of real live dope hitters. Lee, a Chinaman, and some 
comrades of other nationalities were doing the pipe the 
old fashioned way. This was all under ground the same 
as of old. This condition does not exist since the earth- 
quake. 

I went into the ostrich show also. About 100 are on 
exhibition. It is indeed a strange bird, weighing from 
250 to 300 pounds, with two toes, one having a hook that 
enables it to do great damage to an enemy. It has a speed 
of thirty miles an hour, thus enabling it to escape from 
beasts, which is another protection given it by nature. The 
female lays an egg every other day weighing from six to 

49 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

eight pounds. It requires six weeks to hatch the young, and 
incubators are used for this purpose. A good bird is worth 
$1,500 to $2,000 and its plumes are valued at $100 per 
year. It lives on alfalfa and grain. The male bird is dark 
and the female is gray. When hatching their own young 
the female sits on the eggs in day time, because her dress 
matches the sands of the desert, and the male bird sits on 
them at night because his clothes correspond with darkness, 
yet the brain of an ostrich only weighs two ounces and it is 
the most stupid of all birds — the law of nature to preserve 
the species. 

The plumes are white, the male bird's being more valu- 
able because they retain the curl longer and are more dur- 
able. You can buy the male plumes from the owners only, 
who dress them for the market near Los Angeles and main- 
tain four stores. New York, Chicago, San Francisco and 
Los Angeles. The female plumes are handled by depart- 
ment stores and are not guaranteed. The male plumes are 
guaranteed for one year and are expensive. Now, ladies, 
take your choice and be happy, for either costs enough. 

You get one hundred thousand people together and 
some of them are there for pleasure and adventure. This 
is why cities cost money to govern and the wicked seem to 
grow. This is why the country life is simple and pure, as 
compared with city life. So they have "49" in the Zone 
— all men looking for gold — adventure — only a few women, 
they looking for men. They started out to reproduce this 
condition in the Zone, in "49," but it has been much modi- 
fied and is not the same show it started out to be. All these 
things have to be watched and regulated as best they can, 
and one bad show ought not to condemn the Zone for 
many worthy and instructive exhibitions are located there. 
It is a good show and worth a visit. 

50 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco, Cal. 

THIS city is truly the Eldorado of the west, every one 
looking and expecting to find wealth, not only in 
orange, lemon, peach, prune, apricot, plum, cherry and 
apple trees and berry bushes, too, but in suckers who have 
worked hard and saved a few thousand dollars and in the 
men and women who have inherited much and want to make 
more. You can find and meet more rainbow chasers, and 
more men and women hunting for jack rabbits here, than 
any other city I have ever seen. The St. Francis hotel 
seems to be thick with mine promoters and mine owners of 
all kinds of mines. You hear of gold, silver, copper, borax, 
potash and any other kind of a mine you want to know 
about. They all work for one thing — gold to invest in their 
stock, bonds or prospects. You can get in on the ground 
floor, and if you are slow, rather than lose you do not be 
surprised if they offer you an entrance in the basement. 
Now this is only on a larger scale here than the orange or 
lemon grove, peach or apple orchard, and I must not omit 
the olive. 

You see and hear and are introduced to men who have 
made and lost millions, once rich, now poor. Whether up 
or down, still in the game hunting for the base of the 
rainbow where a sack of gold is waiting for the finder. It 
is fascinating, exhilarating to the old and young and 
fagged out class leaning on canes. They have circulators 
to size you up, make your acquaintance and introduce you 
in due form. The sociability part is clever, entertaining 
and, at times, quite interesting. In Washington and Ore- 
gon you have fruit and timber lands, and here you have 
the same with mineral deposits added and food products 
more varied. And do not forget oil. In all my letters I 
have tried to impress on the young man and young woman 

61 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

without money or good friends here that it is best for them 
to remain where they are. If a man or woman has saved 
or possessed only say $3,000 to $15,000 well invested, 
even with moderate returns, do not disturb it to make an 
investment where there can be but one ending. The old or 
middle aged people had better let well enough alone. 

You can get all kinds of climate here, and scenery no 
where like it in the United States. For a small expendi- 
ture you can enjoy both the scenery and the climate, and 
keep your savings intact among your friends at your old 
home. The fruit men all along the line are doing well 
if they are playing an even game. Large numbers in all 
walks of life have trout lines out all along to catch young 
and inexperienced fish, and older fish who want to die 
richer, and are often the easiest caught. They are being 
caught right along. There are a lot of smart fellows out 
there, and women are used to play the game with them. 
They are clever, wide awake and up-and-doing, and the 
hard working citizen of the Mississippi valley had better 
stick close to the cornfield and the country store. He will 
find that irrigated fruit is full of water, lacks flavor and 
cannot be canned, while his own fruit is grown on the 
richest soil in the world, has a delicious flavor and answers 
all the wants of man. Their orchards here are cared for 
just as you would care for a fine garden. Do the same 
and you will be duly rewarded. 

The Native Sons' association is organized to get work 
first for those born here, hence the outside man or woman 
must sufi'er much hardship before getting located. Union 
labor comes next. Fully 20,000 men are jobless in San 
Francisco alone. The city pays no attention to them. They 
must work, steal or starve. Rents are high. Labor became 
firmly fixed in this city when plans were made to restore it 

52 



BY LAND AND SEA 

after the earthquake. Hod carriers demanded and received 
$7 a day. Other labor organizations did the same. This 
made all improvements on both residence and business blocks 
costly. The owners are trying to get fair returns on the 
original cost. Material was cheap enough, but the rebuild- 
ing of San Francisco with large amounts of bonded money, 
in the face of the exactions of labor then and since, makes 
living in this city expensive, and it will continue to be so 
for years to come until financial distress forces a new align- 
ment. Suppose a man wants to buy and operate a job print- 
ing office. He must hire union men. But suppose he gets 
behind with his orders and wants to work one of his ma- 
chines in day time or at night. He cannot do it. He must 
first join the printers' union and then pay in weekly $5.50 
to the sinking fund before he can run one of his own ma- 
chines. It is so all along the line. Public officials of all 
kinds kneel to the demands of the labor bosses, and the 
wages demanded do not irritate business so much as the 
conditions exacted. Some ranchmen had a strike in the 
harvest fields last fall because ice water was not furnished, 
the thing they should not have had from a medical stand- 
point. 

Simplicity and economy are strangers in this locality. 
Waste, show and eat, drink and be merry are written every- 
where in every street. Hard times and age alone will make 
this city more conservative. It is the influx of new people 
and new wealth from the outside that keep up appearances. 
There are no factories hardly, a few jobbing and wholesale 
houses, yet this city has about 450,000 people, and with 
Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda about 800,000 people live 
surrounding this locality. 

The total commerce for 1914 amounted to only $135,- 
000,000. Seattle, only half the size, had $125,000,000, 

53 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

both having fine ports, admittmg the largest ships. Port- 
land, 67 miles from the ocean, had $100,000,000. 

These cities have a great opportunity in building up a 
large oriental trade. They should make conditions right at 
home and go after it. But the curse of this coast is politics 
and labor conditions. They compete with each other in 
getting out the craziest legislation. Kansas was not in it 
in her palmiest days, yet see where Kansas landed when 
she sobered down. So with this state, rich in many ways, 
it will sober down in time and will be a safe place to live 
and invest your money. It is one great sanitarium now for 
the old, the feeble and retired. It will continue to grow and 
become richer and more influential intellectually and com- 
mercially in the union of states as time rolls on. 

Take its oil production — almost 270,000,000 barrels 
for 1914. This item alone tells you of the great wealth 
stored here, yet the mine owners tell me the oil men are 
not making money. Possibly it is all Rockefeller's fault. 
This poor man is indeed suffering fully as much as Job, 
except as to boils. I know they do have oil and wine in 
abundance and ought to be making a profit, if they are not. 
The volume of business entitles them to a profit. 

San Francisco is the hub of all this surrounding wealth 
and enterprise, and has she risen to her opportunities ? If 
not, will she in the future? Her banks now have on de- 
posit $205,000,000 with sufficient capital to handle the pres- 
ent business. 



54 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco, Cal. 

STRANGE though it be, this city has its winter in July 
and August. The weather during these months is 
chilly and fogs arise about every day, and to some these 
conditions are not so pleasant. The rainy season is now 
about over, the country looks beautiful with blossoms and 
flowers everywhere, even wild ones in the woods. The grass 
is green and luxurious. This will not be so long. The rain 
is no more for about seven months, and the life and cheer- 
fulness hides under a brown, dead color until the rains 
reappear. Vegetation in these long seven months must be 
irrigated if you desire the present conditions to continue 
or your fruit to mature. Irrigation costs money, and must 
necessarily increase the cost of production. The Iowa 
farmer does not always appreciate the blessings from above 
whence bountiful showers come for all his crops with- 
out money and without price, apparently at the right time 
and periods during the planting, growing and maturing 
of all the necessary crops in the production of foods for 
the sustenance of man, thus blessing the labors and efforts 
and hopes of the tillers of the soil and supplying the future 
wants of humanity. He is by nature selfish, and too often 
fails to appreciate what is done for his interests by those 
surrounding him, or by the forces from without. So we 
have winter with ice and snows and cold, biting winds to 
drive him to shelter around the glowing fireside where he 
may contemplate and reflect on life and its duties, and be- 
come better acquainted with his family, and a better citizen. 
These conditions do not exist here. Beauty of another 
kind and sunshine are upon new aspirations, and conduct is 
influenced by different forces. Life drifts into lighter 
channels of gaiety and ease and pleasure, thus causing 
people to resort more to their wits to enable them to get 

55 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

their bread and butter. They are watching and waiting for 
you who have labored and saved a competence, yet are dis- 
satisfied, to urge you to exchange it for sunshine and flowers. 
This is natural and honest, and no one can possibly be 
blamed except the one who makes the mistake. 

This city has about seventy-five miles of street railway, 
fifty-five miles of which are in the hands of private indi- 
viduals. The service on both lines is good. That owned by 
the city has the best access to the exposition, and charges 5 
cents. The other line also runs to the exposition, and then 
over 3,000 jitneys are in operation, charging 10 cents for 
the same service. They have no regulation of any kind, 
and I am informed that possibly these conditions will be 
about the same until the exposition closes. The city does 
not want competition, and so long as the jitneys charge 
10 cents they will not be molested. This is for political 
ends, and some claim by a tacit understanding between the 
city and the jitneys. 

However, I have come to the conclusion that the jitney 
has come to stay, and will be permanent in some form. It 
is going to absorb and take the short haul in city trans- 
portation. The street railway will also remain and be a 
means of city transportation, but will be forced to take the 
long haul. This will be unprofitable, and hence destructive 
of all investments in stocks and bonds of street railways. 
For the future no conservative interests will put a dollar 
in such securities. Many will now be forced into the hands 
of receivers. This will greatly depreciate suburban prop- 
erty, for outside service must be greatly reduced or aban- 
doned, and the tendency will be to condense the popula- 
tion more to the center of a city, thus affecting the health 
and sanitation of city life. If this view is correct after 



66 



BY LAND AND SEA 

observation in several cities, then serious problems are 
going to confront the administration of our cities. 

The suburban population will demand transportation fa- 
cilities. Private individuals will not hazard their money 
any longer in such enterprises. This then will force munic- 
ipal ownership of street railways, supported and main- 
tained by general taxation, for the enterprise will be a los- 
ing game from the start. Politics and democracy will force 
the issue. It will come. The result will be higher taxa- 
tion because of mismanagement and inefficiency. This will 
further increase rents, and hence the cost of living. High 
cost of living in the United States has come to stay. High 
cost of living will make a servant class, cause people to 
save and economize, and the poor will increase in numbers. 
The period of development is passing away and the period 
of maintenance is approaching. 

San Francisco is now paying $4 per hundred in taxes. 
Rents are high. Business men are not making any money. 
Many are closing out. A business man here does not fail. 
"He is going out of business." 

Market street runs from the Ferry until it touches the 
water on the other side. It runs along on level ground 
at the foot of the hills. All other streets open up on each 
side into Market street, which is very wide. Yet the jit- 
neys, because of their large numbers, have congested the 
traffic on this street. The congestion is a problem now 
demanding serious consideration. Rents on this street are 
so high a large number of the rooms have been cut or 
divided, so that they are only shops. Some of these shops 
rent as high as $7,500 a year. This is why things are high. 
Men's clothing in many lines is 25 per cent higher than in 
the east. Yet it is the general opinion that no business 



67 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

man on Market street is making any money. The other 
streets are not much better. The exposition up to date is 
not helping the business situation. People are not com- 
ing in large enough numbers, and they are not spending 
their money except at the hotels. They are visitors to see 
as much as possible without delay and at the least possible 
expense. Later this may change. The people have done 
well and deserve encouragement in a better patronage. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

NEARLY every one remembers Senator Stanford and 
his activities during his life, and those that do not, 
know of the Leland Stanford university near Palo Alto, 
California. It is well located on a tract of land about 
twenty-five miles south of San Francisco of about 15,000 
acres. It has several hundred students from far and near. 
It is managed by fourteen trustees who serve without pay 
and are in for life. In case of death or resignation the 
remaining trustees fill the vacancy. The position of trus- 
tee of this institution is regarded with honor and men of 
character and standing consider it a privilege to so act. It 
does not require much of their time as it is managed through 
a superintendent and his assistants. 

They have an office and hotel building on the grounds, 
each trustee having his own sleeping apartments modern in 
every way, to which he has his own key and no one else has 
access. 

The corporation owns and manages two other tracts of 
land, one of 63,000 acres, called the Vina ranch, about 204 
miles south of San Francisco. On this ranch there are 
60,000 sheep, 12,000 beef cattle, 300 Holstein cows, whose 
butter sells for 2 cents above the market price, 1,400 acres 

58 



BY LAND AND SEA 

of wine grapes, 700 Berkshire hogs, and in the busy season 
it has 200 men to work and look after the property. The 
other tract is not far away and consists of about 2,000 
acres. All told this corporation owns about 80,000 acres 
of land, besides valuable property in San Francisco. This 
corporation is the largest land owner in the state, except 
the Miller & Luck Cattle company, which owns about 
1,000,000 acres, besides the thousands of head of stock. 
The Stanford corporation has assets now valued at twenty 
millions of dollars, and at the time of Stanford's death it 
was estimated at only $12,000,000. The trustees cannot dis- 
pose of any of the land. What will it be worth fifty years 
from now? 

The grapes are sold by the ton to the California Wine 
Association at so much per pound, to be crushed by it into 
delicious wines for "sacramental" purposes, and other uses. 
It has a ten year contract. Thirty dollars per ton is re- 
garded as a very low price, one that produces no profit. 
Everything this corporation produces is the very best and 
commands the highest prices on the market. 

This corporation in addition to producing scholars, 
produces barley, alfalfa, apples, primes, figs, pears, 
peaches, almonds, olives, walnuts, etc. 

The hired men are housed on the premises and pay for 
their room and board at the rate of $12 per month, and 
they receive in the way of wages $1.75 per day. 

Roadways rim through the Vina ranch just like a city, 
and because of their beauty they might be called streets. 
There will be one roadway, upon each side of which will 
be grown walnut trees, and another prune trees, and an- 
other olive trees, and so on. This is indeed a great insti- 
tution — a monument to the ability and capacity of Senator 
Stanford — which is only in its infancy. 

69 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Oranges are not grown much this far north. You must 
remember California is about 1,000 miles long, an empire 
in itself, capable of feeding millions of people, and will 
feed them in times to come. 

As I was told a good story about oranges that occured, 
we will say, not a hundred miles from Corning, a small 
town in this state, I will relate it for the benefit of all. The 
realty men, who have some bright lot of fellows among 
them working as a unit, or rather doing team work, con- 
ceived the idea of educating some of the citizens of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. They had the orange groves and Pittsburgh 
men had the money, and they desired an exchange, and at 
the same time an increase in the population of California, 
and father, mother and the children are working for that 
everywhere. 

They got some attractive literature with pictures of 
orange groves and oranges that would make your eyes 
beam with joy. Some of the real estate men with pleasant 
personalities were dispatched to Pittsburgh to seek inves- 
tors. In time they found a train load of men hunting sun- 
shine and flowers, hunting a place to raise beautiful things 
instead of smoke and money only. It is a long journey 
from Pittsburgh, but the new found friends of the Golden 
West were well entertained. 

The "reserve" element of the realty men at home were 
active in making the surroundings most attractive, in fact, 
one sweet dream. It is said they fastened oranges on the 
trees with invisible wire, tied fast to the limbs so they would 
not escape, and the burdens carried by those trees for the 
pleasure and delight of the lambs from Pittsburgh was as 
magnificent as a beautiful or gorgeous sunset, and no doubt 
had the same effect, for many fell, bought and thus made 
a permanent investment with a residential attachment. 

60 



BY LAND AND SEA 

After all, what is the difference? So many oranges in a 
box, so many boxes in a car, freight so much, profits so 
much to the cent, no mistake about the latter, as certain as 
the speculation in grain on the board of trade. You know 
where you are at when you go to bed at night and gently 
slide into slumber to waken up in the morning in the bright 
light of day. 

Things are peculiar out here. If a man or woman 
goes wrong, no blame is charged to the individual; it is all 
charged up to the climate. I rather like that. It makes it 
so much easier for us weak individuals to get along. And 
as each individual does his own charging he tries to live 
on his wits, have a good time and take no thought of the 
morrow. This relieves you of all pain and suffering and 
worries; you smile, everybody smiles; you enjoy life in its 
fullness, and that is why so many like the Golden West. 



San Francisco, Col. 

IF you talk to Californians many of them will tell you 
that the Jap is watching us for an opportunity to eat 
us up. Many of them have talked about it so much that 
the idea has become fixed. They will tell you that a Jap 
has a book in one hand and a kodak in the other; that he 
has photographed every gun, dock, harbor and good land- 
ing place on the coast, in fact knows more about our na- 
tional defense than we do ourselves. They honestly be- 
lieve that the Jap has extended this knowledge of our 
national resources and readiness for defense to all parts 
of the country. 

There is also a feeling springing up against the Eng- 
lishman because of his alliance with the Jap, and the pres- 

61 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

ent war only increases the belief that England cares noth- 
ing for us only so far as she can use us and needs us in 
the production of foods, and for moral prestige; that her 
alliance with Japan has a far reaching design in the future, 
against us of course, in the control of the Pacific and the 
commercial advantages in the future of the countries bord- 
ering on that ocean in their future development. Of course 
these countries are just beginning to develop and expand 
and the future commercial trade will be enormous. We are 
growing more rapidly than any country and must find for- 
eign markets for our merchandise if we expect to live as a 
nation and prosper by giving our people employment and 
the contentment and comfort that follows the acquisition 
of wealth. The last twenty-five years has made a new na- 
tion of Japan. Who knows what the present unrest in 
China will develop into as the years go by? Suppose it 
makes progress as rapidly as Japan has in the next twenty- 
five years. If it does and no one has reason to doubt it, see 
the possibilities of a country inhabited with 400,000,000 of 
people on an area no larger than the United States, active, 
industrious, wide-awake, ambitious, reaching out for pros- 
perity and national existence, as Germany now says she 
is doing. What may we expect from China? You must 
not overlook the fact that the young men and women of 
China have been doing things lately. They have established 
a republic. A republic means democracy. A democracy 
means a universal education, and hence, the raising the 
standards of the masses to a higher level of living and 
thinking, of unrest and a desire for better and more ele- 
vating things. This means competition in commercialism. 
Commerce is jealous, exacting and thus conflicts arise, and 
rights of persons and property must be defended and pro- 
tected, and there is no possible method known to man for 

62 



BY LAND AND SEA 

the enforcement of these rights among nations and main- 
tain law, order and national existence except by the battle- 
ship. To possess it is absolute necessity. When and how 
to use it is another problem to be disposed of by statesmen 
as the questions arise to be settled by each passing genera- 
tion. The young blood of China, hot and restless, will in 
time have a navy and protect her possessions from the theft 
and impositions of other nations. She and Japan may unite 
and become friends. They may covet some of the good 
things we own. Who knows but that the Californian is 
right after all.'' It may not be a dream. Some day we 
may be called upon to defend our rights and possessions. 
We must not permit the peacemakers to lull us into sleep. 
It is too late to take out insurance after the fire. The cost 
of the army and navy is the premium we pay against being 
surprised; to be protected both day and night throughout 
the world, while at home pursuing our peaceful life. In 
other words the policeman in our cities who walks by our 
house at night while we sleep is the battleship of the 
ocean. 

The United States has invested millions in and around 
San Francisco in years gone by for national defense. Some 
of the investments are now out of date. What of it! Do 
not all mechanical contrivances change and improve as time 
goes by ? Even every farmer will tell you the new is better 
than the old and the old is out of date. The coast defense 
here ought to be and will be made more modern and up to 
date. The government has a great plant at Mare Island. 
Several thousand men are employed in the government serv- 
ice repairing and building ships, equipping and supplying 
battleships with all their needs. It is situated about thirty 
miles from here in a fine location, even to protect itself. 
It is one of the principal naval stations of the United 

63 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

States and has two large dry docks, one large enough to re- 
ceive our largest battleships. It has many buildings, im- 
mensely large cranes of the latest model and the best marine 
machinery that money will buy. 

Many relics and trophies from different parts of the 
world are gathered there, many being exposed in the park, 
a beautiful spot with many fine residences for the officers, 
all kept up in fine shape. No smoking and no kodaks are 
permitted on the island, and many places you are not per- 
mitted to enter — thus insuring secrecy and protection as 
much as possible on the part of the government. And even 
intoxicated persons are excluded. The men are under civil 
service rules and live across the water in Vallejo, a town 
of about 15,000 people, a very pretty place. The island 
contains about 1,000 acres. 

The Presidio, United States military reservation, is at 
the edge of the city, containing 1,542 acres, being two 
miles long and one and one-half miles wide, well located 
for defense and otherwise. It fronts on the Golden Gate 
and the Pacific ocean. With flowers, trees and shrubbery 
everywhere they have made it a very beautiful spot with 
the evidences of war most prominent, if the occasion should 
ever arise. 

On another island called Alcatraz, the government has 
a prison. It is called "Disciplinary Barracks." It is 
sightly and not far from the city. It looks clean, attractive 
and inviting, but they tell me the boys get tired, occasion- 
ally plunge into the water and try to swim to shore over 
a mile away. 

Then another island called Angel, well named, where 
immigrants must land and be searched, if they cannot pass 
muster with the government officers,* is a beautiful spot with 
its military post. So everywhere the government has done 

64i 



BY LAND AND SEA 

well and is doing its duty all along the line, even in the 
preparedness for defense. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

AS THE country grows in population the labor condi- 
tions on the coast will not vary much from what they 
are today. Labor is much influenced by the cheapness of 
food products and the climate, as these affect more or less 
all mankind. This state is one of the most productive 
states in the union for food products. Everything in the 
way of foods is produced here and some lines are exten- 
sive. With the exception of oranges, lemons and apples, 
they are being produced and marketed at a profit and 
shipped every where in the world. I noticed the other day 
that one man was planting fifteen thousand acres in olives. 
Oranges, lemons and apples are perishable and must be 
disposed of when matured without delay. This is not so 
with the other food products. They can be put up in cans, 
bottles or dried and shipped when a satisfactory market is 
found. This is why a profit is made on other kinds of 
foods, if conditions are right and your land not too expen- 
sive. The quantity of production on a given space and the 
net market price of your products determine the value of 
your land, and the quantity of production of your land or 
land equally as good in close proximity enables you to 
determine its worth. 

California needs more markets. Her production is 
enormous. The prices are reasonable and sometimes low, 
and this is why living is cheap. The climate is fine and 
hence does not take so much to keep you. The crop sea- 
sons are warm and dry, the crops being produced largely 

65 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

by irrigation. Hence without rain aU you need is a blanket 
to spread on the ground for a night's rest. If you are 
real poor you can do without the blanket. Thus the com- 
mon laborer increases in numbers and will continue to 
increase in greater proportions than business enterprises 
increase as time goes on. This necessarily reduces wages 
and there exists in California today ten men or ten women 
for every job of work that is offered. This condition pro- 
duces immorality and crime of all kinds, and public officials 
are in a measure helpless because of the multitude who are 
idle and hungry. The state passes stringent laws, but laws 
are ignored on every hand. To live somehow, somewhere 
and get through is not only a monthly problem, but a daily 
problem. The climate materially reduces the suffering of 
the masses. This is why they are here and why they stay 
here. And it will always be so — a Bohemian existence — 
and it is useless to do otherwise than try to regulate them 
and their enterprises only within the "zone of reason," 
and maintain them in a minority. 

The coast is affected more by adverse or illadvised na- 
tional legislation than any other section of the United 
States. The Wilson administration has seriously affected 
the markets and shipping interests of the Pacific coast, 
and nearly all of its present suffering and depressed com- 
mercial conditions can be charged directly to national legis- 
lation. 

When you attack capital and force it to retire for 
safety, you produce idleness, not only of capital, but of 
labor and its great purchasing power, thus driving business 
men into bankruptcy. Labor is worse off here today than 
it was twenty years ago. There are more laborers and less 
work to do in proportion than in the past. 

Twenty years ago laborers worked in the orchards and 

66 



BY LAND AND SEA 

slept on the ground on their blankets the same as they do 
today. If they had wives they slept with their husbands 
surrounded by their children, if they were fortunate or un- 
fortunate enough to have any. White men today are paid 
$1.60 for a day's work and board themselves, Chinese and 
Japs, $1.35 for the same kind of work. When out of 
work they drift to the cities. What else could they do? 
If they fail to get work in the city they beg, steal or go 
into the holdup business, as most of the cities pay no atten- 
tion to them not even to give a man a bowl of soup if 
actually in a state of starvation. This is why I think Seat- 
tle has solved the problem of the jobless man with its Hotel 
Liberty. Every city on the coast should adopt this method. 
It is a business enterprise and no charity about it. It will 
reduce crime and make living safer in the cities. 

These conditions naturally produce a certain kind of 
fruit. The trees produce another kind of food throughout 
the year, instead of olives, dates, figs, pears, etc. They 
produce the I. W. W., anarchy and socialism, the latter 
being very strong here, which in time ripens into anarchy 
and the I. W. W. They live and thrive here out of the 
conditions because of the mild climate and the volume and 
cheapness of native foods. 

The active man or woman has no business in a mild 
climate. It destroys energy and force of character, pro- 
duces little men and women physically and mentally. Ice 
and snow alone make rugged men and women, physically 
and intellectually, full sized and aggressive and progres- 
sive in all walks of life. Mild climates are for those who 
have had their day, invalids and those who have inherited 
or made a competence and desire to bask in the sunshine 
and among the flowers. Snow and ice are for youth and 
vigorous manhood and womanhood. Sunshine and scenery 

67 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

are for grandparents and novelists and dreamers, occupa- 
tions of sufficient force to keep the subjects from drifting 
into incompetency, or the mad house. Poets naturally take 
to the coast for the same reasons that induce the laboring 
man to locate here. 

The Chinese and Jap hold their own with them all, 
because they are industrious, saving and lead simple lives, 
especially the Chinese. The Southern Pacific would never 
have been built when it was, had it not been for the Chinese 
laborer. He is always at work, likes to work, at a good 
price if he can get it, and if not, at a smaller price. He 
worked for the Southern Pacific for a small wage and 
because of that, this road came into existence twenty years 
ahead of its time and accelerated the early development of 
California. California owes much to the Chinaman, and, in 
return, they all say he is thoroughly honest and a good 
servant, and my observation convinces me that he is a good 
servant and a valuable asset to the coast. They need more 
of him and not so many "Sons and Daughters of the Golden 
West." 

This order had a state gathering the other day and on 
its banners, with its name, were "Republic of California." 
The words are well chosen, for their acts are treasonable 
against the young men and women of every other state of 
the union, for this is a free country in the pursuit of a 
living and happiness under the stars and stripes, and 
to deny those born in other states an equal opportunity to 
make a living here is nothing less than treason — anarchy 
towards the children of other states. 



68 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco, Cal. 

THIS city is truly the Paris of America in many ways. 
I meet a number of people who have lived in both 
cities. There are many fine buildings and up-to-date stores. 
The climate is not objectionable, especially when you get 
used to it. You can wear the same weight clothes through- 
out the year — medium, and get along comfortably. After 
getting acquainted and accustomed to the ways of the city 
you grow to think better of it in every way. 

You meet people here from everywhere. I have had 
two or three pleasant talks with Mr. Henry Scott. If you 
were to meet this man casually you would think nothing 
about it, because in appearance he is a plain, genial fellow, 
about sixty years of age, quite gray, but active and with a 
fine personality. He was the designer and builder of the 
battleship Oregon, which is stationed in the bay and one 
of the sights of the Panama exposition. The people here 
are proud of this ship and they are justified in being so, 
because of its great record in the Spanish-American war. 
This ship, with its associates, terminated Spanish rule on 
the western continent after centuries of occupancy — after 
being the pioneers in building up a western civilization. 
Mr. Scott is well to do, takes an interest in public affairs 
and enjoys meeting his friends. He formerly managed the 
Union Iron works of this city, but sold out about eight 
years ago to the Bethlehem Steel Avorks which now owns 
and operates it. Mr. Scott then became conpected with 
the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph company, to which he 
gives his attention. 

Mr. George E. McFarland, formerly connected with 
Des Moines telephone interests, is president of this com- 
pany, and has been here about two years. He looks well, 
enjoys his work and is getting along nicely. He is an 

69 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

efficient man in his line of work, and that is why he is suc- 
ceeding and is highly regarded by his employers. 

I met the former private secretary of Andrew Carnegie, 
in fact, I have met him several times. He and his wife 
have just returned from China. He has given me much 
information concerning his former employer and his asso- 
ciates. He was with Mr. Carnegie up to and during the 
disposal of the business. He thinks Andy is all right. 
He said, "When he was active in business Mr. Carnegie had 
both hands in his pockets up to his elbows, giving his rela- 
tives assistance to the 'forty- fourth degree,' and at the 
same time being generous towards the public." 

He is about the same age as Corey, Schwab and the 
others and of course knows them well. Mr. Schwab is here 
at the St. Francis hotel with about twenty-five of his rela- 
tives and some close friends, showing them the fair. He is 
about fifty-four years of age, well built, looks like an 
athlete, tall and a handsome fellow. 

A Captain Jones was in the employ of Mr. Carnegie as 
foreman with young Schwab as his assistant. He knew 
how to mix the ore, an expert, and started Carnegie on the 
road to make his millions. One day he met with an acci- 
dent and was burned to death with hot metal. Schwab 
got his place. 

One mill was causing trouble, the managers were not 
making good. Schwab was given the place, and after a 
year's trouble he began to show results and thus demon- 
strated his ability to manage, and his future all know. So 
by an accident he was given a chance and made good. 

Corey, a big awkward boy, with large glasses on, was 
discharged. His wife was soon to become a mother. He 
was poor, and hunted up the private secretary to use his 



70 



BY LAND AND SEA 

influence to get him back to work. In due time he was 
given a position and became an expert in his line of work, 
hence valuable, and blossomed into great wealth. Thus 
another accident, the turn of a hand, the right step, led 
from poverty to fortune. 

When the deal was closed several became possessed of 
millions, and only four or five have retained their wealth. 
Lovejoy, who got two and one-half millions, is hunting for 
odd jobs around Pittsburgh today, thus demonstrating that 
it is easier to make money than to keep it. Many of these 
men, however, never made it. 

When Henry Frick's option for seventy-five millions, 
upon which he had given Mr. Carnegie one million, ex- 
pired, the day was an exciting one. The Scotchman refused 
to extend it, and Mr. Frick, because of financial depression, 
was unable to make good and lost his one million. A few 
days later Carnegie gave twenty library associations 
$50,000 each. So Frick unwillingly was the victim of charity. 

Later everyone knows the organization of the United 
States Steel corporation which made Mr. Carnegie the sec- 
ond richest man in the United States, Mr. Rockefeller alone 
surpassing him. 

The Hon. William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) is here with 
his show. His old-time friend. Dr. Hugh K. McClelland, 
brought him around and introduced him to me. I have had 
several visits with him, and he and the doctor make a good 
team. The doctor has resided here forty-five years, and is 
still engaged in practice. Cody has great admiration for 
the Kaiser, and his eyes seventy years old sparkled as he 
described his visit with the kaiser to witness 40,000 troops 
drill. He said no detail was too small to catch the em- 
peror's observation. He thinks the Kaiser is one of the 



71 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

greatest rulers of today. He did not express himself on the 
results, and being a soldier, no doubt has ideas on that 
subj ect. 

These two cronies have in preparation a book of start- 
ling western stories. I have glanced over the manuscript 
and they asked me to write the dedication which I did. 

Among the many stories is one that shows western life 
in the early days. Cody was bothered on his ranch in 
Nebraska by the depredations of young Indians, so an ad- 
miring, friend in Missouri, who knew of his troubles, 
shipped him one of the fiercest female bulldogs he had, and 
stated that in time she would become a mother with children 
from the meanest and most vicious father in the state of 
Missouri. In due time the mother had a family of six. The 
doctor and an Irishman by the name of Burns made Cody 
a visit. They were shown the six pups at a safe distance 
and Burns wanted to buy one on sight. Cody refused to 
sell. The mother's eyes flashed like balls of fire. Burns 
pressed so hard that Cody finally said they were not for 
sale, but if he wanted one so bad he could have it for $300. 
Burns would not pay such a high price. So finally Burns 
offered to go in and get one if Cody would give it to him. 
Cody protested and told Burns he would be taking his life 
in his hands. Finally, he said, "If you want to risk your 
life and free me from your foolhardy act, you can have 
one if you go in after it in the enclosure." Burns imme- 
diately disrobed, got down on his hands and knees and 
went in backwards. It so frightened the mother that she 
dashed for liberty, yelping at every jump. When she was 
fifty feet away, her conduct so disgusted Buffalo Bill that 
he pulled out his revolver and shot her dead. The other five 
pups he gave to the Indian boys. My sympathies are with 
the mother dog from start to finish. 

72 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Buffalo Bill shows his age some, but is about as active 
and alert as ever. He has truly had a remarkable career 
and his type is fast passing away. His wife is here with 
him. 



California. 

CALIFORNIA is the end and has been the resting spot 
for the youthful spirit to march towards the setting 
sun since 1849. The people of California are proud in 
the rich reminiscences of the past and now old, recall those 
early days with pleasure and delight. To them, as well as 
those now living, it is a romance, a dream, to go back and 
see the crude beginnings gradually develop and unfold into 
the Garden of Eden in fruits and food products of all 
kinds, many that have grown and sustained human life 
since the beginning of man as mentioned and described in 
the Book of all Books. 

And like all warm climates, myths and visions spring 
up and influence and direct the destiny of the people under 
the spell. If the people are poor and have to struggle to 
live then the myths and visions are of a spiritual nature. 
Snow and ice are not productive of these tendencies in the 
human mind. The stern realities of life make men and 
women more practical, and the cold blasts of winter make 
them think of other things. Hence nearly all the religions 
were given birth near the Euphrates under the warm sun 
amidst the rocks and barren country with a few fertile 
spots to inspire and give hope for the future. 

So in California, the storage and discovery of gold 
has caused the pebple to dream and have visions of 
wealth with all the luxuries and pleasures it will bring, 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

with flowers and sunshine and song, morning, noon and 
night, without spiritual or religious tendencies to interfere 
with their chosen life. A church is really a joke. They 
are bent on the acquisition of wealth to follow their pleas- 
ures, and use every means to get possession of the gold. I 
am only speaking of the predominating influences of the 
majority. There is always a minority who work and live 
for the ultimate good of all. 

All this no doubt has been greatly accelerated by the 
discovery of gold in paying quantities in 1849, which sud- 
denly made a few individuals enormously rich, fabulously 
so for a new country, and men and women became money 
mad. These men moved to San Francisco and located on 
the most conspicuous location in the city, overlooking the 
city, the bay and the country for miles around and called 
it Nob Hill. Palatial residences, some in marble, palaces, 
were erected and no city in the country could compare with 
the elegance and display made here at that time and in this 
period, thirty years or so ago. Six men were good for five 
hundred millions of dollars. The Rothchild's with all their 
banking houses could not do better at that time. 

At first Nob Hill was only two blocks long and it gradu- 
ally grew to six blocks in length as others wanted to be "it," 
and thus was established San Francisco's 400. It become 
a lighthouse and it required the income of a king to live 
there, so the lesser lights dropped down on the sides of 
the hill, and thus began the social life based on wealth 
alone. In the struggle for social and political positions 
graft has permeated nearly all walks of life, especially 
public life, and law is not enforced, much less obeyed, ex- 
cept when considered best to do so and not too inconvenient. 
These conditions always continue until settlement day, 
which always comes sooner or later, but it has not yet 

74 



BY LAND AND SEA 

arrived here. It is not so far in the future as it was. It 
is approaching. 

The earthquake came and Nob Hili was no more. Only 
one residence remained and it was burned in the interior, 
the walls standing, and is now occupied by the Pacific 
club. This was the home of Mr, Flood. All these old set- 
tlers had passed away before the earthquake. 

Here lived Senator Stanford, at the corner of Stock- 
ton and California streets. His home was burned, now 
owned by the university, and in its place an apartment 
house has been erected called Stanford court, the finest one 
in the west. Across the street on the home of Senator 
Fair, stands the magnificent Fairmont hotel. Two children 
remain of this family, Virginia, now Mrs. Oelrich, and 
Birdie, now Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., both of New 
York. The father left these girls about $75,000,000. 
Across the street is the University club, formerly the 
stables of Senator Stanford, whose family is now extinct. 
Mr. Hopkins lived next to Senator Stanford's residence. 
After the fire the widow gave it to the city for an art gal- 
lery, and all her beautiful pictures and statuary saved from 
her residence are housed here in a two story structure. Next 
to the Flood home stood the home of Mr. Crocker. His 
widow gave this lot to the city for a park. Mr. Will 
Crocker is the only child living from this family, and he 
is active in many business lines in the city. He is esti- 
mated to be worth $100,000,000. His brother, Fred, died 
a few years ago leaving four children. Jim Flood and his 
maiden sister are the remains of the Flood family. He is 
married and they live on a 1,700 acre ranch at Linden Tow- 
ers, Menlo Park, Cal. They are worth many times a 
million, too. Many of these pioneers stay in retirement to 
avoid exploitation of various kinds. In this way they get 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

more peace of mind, living quiet, simple lives. Then comes 
the Huntington home, a marble palace. 

These palaces were owned and built by the four min- 
ing kings and the four builders of the Central and South- 
ern Pacific railways. The rapid influx of the people on 
the discovery of gold made railroad transportation a neces- 
sity. These two railroads soon dominated the commercial 
and political life of California, and made their builders and 
owners kings. 

Senator Stanford mastered the situation both in state 
and national affairs so far as California was concerned. 
Even the federal courts were under his dominion. When 
he got ready to round out his career, his faithful servant in 
the United States senate. Senator Sargent, was displaced 
by his own election when he ordered the state legislature 
so to act. 

Fine apartment houses are now being erected on many 
of these beautiful sites, except the Crocker lot, which was 
given to the Episcopal church. Formerly the property of 
the few. Nob Hill is to give pleasure to the many in all 
walks of life, and so goes the world. The meek shall inherit 
the earth, the poor and the humble — the masses — so why 
should the spirit of mortal be proud? 



San Francisco, Cal. 

TO understand San Francisco and its people you 
must look back to conditions of 1849 and the gradual 
evolution and development to the present time, and viewed 
in this light, you can understand and appreciate present 
conditions. No other period and no other part of the 
territory of the United States started on the road to de- 

76 



BY LAND AND SEA 

velopment just in the manner and way civilization began 
here. 

In 1849 gold was discovered and thousands upon thou- 
sands of aggressive, adventuresome men started and trav- 
eled day and night overland with every conceivable means 
of conveyance, battling diseases and hardships and even 
death in the search for gold. These men had many strong 
characteristics, being young and full of spirit. Most of 
them had no family ties of any kind whatever. 

As in all experiences of this kind, the saloons and gam- 
blers soon followed, and then women of doubtful moral 
character came with the ribbons, song and dance to make 
good cheer for the men who had suffered many hardships 
and no doubt were lonely. In due time trade and com- 
merce followed to supply the wants of the camps, and thus 
you have the beginning of California only sixty-six years 
ago. As time is considered this is indeed short. 

In time some of these pioneers became millionaires, 
started trade centers, the cities of today, and built palaces 
for homes for the young brides, like themselves trained in 
the camps of the west "to eat, drink and be merry for to- 
morrow they may die." The children of such parents could 
have no other conception of life than that given them in 
their childhood — and in addition all the vices associated 
with suddenly acquired wealth and the idleness it pro- 
duces. These are not the best influences to surround girls 
and boys in their early life. The churches with their gos- 
pel hymns should have gone out with the pick and the 
shovel, and another story could be written of California. 

Such has been the experience of all ages, the religious 
part of a man's life reaches him when he is about to die. 
The good people come after the railroads have been built 
when they can enjoy the luxuries of a Pullman and are 

77 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

doubly shocked when they find the second generation look- 
ing on life not so seriously, cheerfully enjoying all the 
vices and pleasures known to the human family with in- 
diiFerence. To have saloons open 365 days, day and night, 
with all the accessories of such institutions unmolested, you 
are horrified, yet not a drunken man do you see. 

These things are gradually changing, however, and time 
alone will complete the revolution here. The saloon must 
now close at 2 A. M., including Sundays. This has been 
brought about by a gradual influx of people coming from 
other states who look on life and its purposes from a 
diflPerent viewpoint. This outside influence is getting strong 
in numbers and moral force. Many degenerates came from 
the second generation of natives and this new influx of 
humanity gives California a better, newer and fresher civili- 
zation than the second generation left by the strong and 
vigorous pioneers. 

This is shown in the vote aff'ecting the saloon. Cali- 
fornia has an enormous wine industry, involving millions 
of dollars and giving employment to thousands of men. 
Out of a vote of about 850,000 there were 350,000 for and 
600,000 against closing the saloons. This question comes 
up again in 1916. The recognized thought that the use 
of liquors undermines efficiency in all lines is getting in its 
work here as it is all over the world. 

With these undercurrents permeating life you can real- 
ize how hard it has been for San Francisco to elect strong, 
forceful public officials — the people wanting license, not 
liberty or efficiency. San Francisco has been poorly and 
wastefully governed. 

Another force that undermines good government is 
labor. It is divided into two groups — the native sons 
of California and union labor. Both are secret organiza- 

78 



BY LAND AND SEA 

tions, strong and in politics. The results are natural. San 
Francisco had more factories twenty-five years ago than 
she has today. Capital will not invest under the conditions, 
and the future does not suggest a change. 

If a man wants to hire a servant he must consult two 
forces by hiring first a man who was born in California, 
and, second, a union labor man. The Native Sons' asso- 
ciation covers the whole state. Labor is so strong, about 
three to one in this city, that it is impossible to com- 
pete with the outside. Carpenters get five dollars a day 
and brick masons eight dollars a day. Eight hours con- 
stitute a day's work in all lines. Labor is so exacting and 
domineering that frequent clashes occur. This is why capi- 
tal wants Chinese and Jap labor, because more reasonable 
and not so exacting, and to maintain their power, political 
and otherwise, is the reason white labor fights both orien- 
tals, first upon one ground and then another. This ques- 
tion will not be solved for many years to come. It will 
be a football for politicians to play with. Capital will 
wander off to more congenial climes, and all the hobbies of 
which the human mind can conceive to better its condition, 
both imaginary and real, will have full swing among the 
flowers, sunshine and showers. 

The governor has had the laboring men with him, but 
they tell me they are done with him. Yet he has had passed 
by the present legislature a statute destroying party lines. 
The politicians tell me this is in furtherance of his plan to 
be a candidate for vice-president on the democratic ticket 
for 1916. How would Wilson and Johnson look for 191 6. -^ 
Vice-President Marshall was a negative quantity on the 
coast. His visit was a flat failure. He will not be Wilson's 
running mate in 1916, that is a sure thing, if Democrats can 
be believed, unless an emergency arises. 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Ex- Vice President Fairbanks was here at the same time 
with his silk hat and a "smile" that would not come off. 
He is young and frisky, and the newspaper boys must not 
say he is cold any more when he is around sunshine and 
flowers. The local boys told me he was setting some fence 
posts. 

San Francisco has 20,000 jobless men. This is why 
Johnson will lose out, and Wilson, and the reason the whole 
coast will be republican in 1916 — work, not agitation, will 
be the battle cry, as it was with the beloved McKinley. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

THE congressional party visiting the Hawaiian islands 
have about all returned. Many of them are remain- 
ing here a week to visit the exposition and the various points 
of interest in and about this city. They express themselves 
as having had a delightful trip, royally entertained and 
glad they went. 

The islands raised $30,000 to pay the expenses of a 
congressional investigation into the needs of the islands, 
and over one hundred congressmen accepted the invita- 
tion and made a personal investigation for the first time. 
This ought to result in good for the islands and place 
many congressmen in possession of first hand information 
as to the wants and needs of one of our most valuable 
possessions. That these islands need more attention in the 
way of practical legislation there is no doubt; that the 
islands are too much governed or over-governed; that they 
need a more simple and less expensive government is the 
opinion of many. This is so everywhere. We have too 
much legislation and too much government at home to pro- 

80 



BY LAND AND SEA 

duce the very best results in the administration of the 
affairs of the public. The tendency of the times in na- 
tional, state and municipal governments is simple, inexpen- 
sive forms that bring quick, effective results. However, 
the farther we drift from true representative governments 
the weaker become the foundations upon which our gov- 
ernments rest. Some of our states have already approached 
the danger line in their freak legislation in creating statu- 
tory laws and provisions affecting their constitutions. When 
you drift from representative government you naturally 
migrate towards monarchy. A pure democracy can live and 
prosper only when the multitude is small in numbers. When 
it is large it becomes unwieldy, expensive, and often cor- 
rupt, thus breeding revolutions and internal strife that 
saps away the vitality of the nation. 

"Uncle Joe Cannon" is the most popular man of them 
all, yet he is seventy-nine years of age. He wears a soft 
hat, put on any old way, and his hair he must comb with 
his fingers. For a man of his age he is enjoying good 
health, yet he told me he was at so many banquets and made 
so many talks that he was nursing a bad case of indiges- 
tion. Otherwise he enjoyed his trip, and returned more 
confirmed in his ideas than ever. As he talked to me when 
making what he thought was a good point, he would slap me 
on the stomach. He said Hawaiians wanted a better gov- 
ernment, coast defenses or fortifications and protection on 
sugar. "Uncle Joe" is for protection all along the line, 
especially on sugar. He said it was time for our people 
to come to their senses and stop so much foolish legislation 
and get down to business. He said our coastwise shipping 
laws had built up all our shipyards, although it cost now 
about 20 per cent more to build a ship in the American 
yards than foreign yards. But where would we be in case 

81 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

of war, with no shipyards? And our last legislation would 
force ships to sail under foreign flags because the expense 
of operation under our flag would be 5 per cent more than 
under a foreign flag, and without subsidies from our gov- 
ernment a ship owner had no other course to pursue. 

Later I heard him address the Transportation club, an 
organization composed of manufacturers and jobbers, where 
he expressed the same views, and he was most heartily 
cheered. I was rather surprised to see such unanimous 
sentiment from this section and in this city. Republican 
doctrines are rapidly becoming established in this state 
once more, and with Senator Borah for vice-president, and 
a good man from the middle or eastern states for president, 
would sweep the country for the republicans. Many want 
Roosevelt to step aside and let the party in the good old 
way get together and make its own nomination. 

Senator Overman of North Carolina, is a large, hand- 
some fellow with considerable ability. He is a democrat 
of the old school with the same ideas as of old on protec- 
tion. Hawaiians raise two crops of sugar in eighteen 
months while Cuba produces three crops, hence a desire for 
protection. The senator says they are getting rich and do 
not need protection. He sees one danger ahead, however. 
About two-thirds of the population are Japanese. These 
import hundreds of girls every year from Japan and they 
are breeding like rats. It is an honor for a girl to have 
a baby. These inhabitants so born become citizens of the 
United States. Hence the Japanese and Chinese ques- 
tions will be as serious to solve for these islands and the 
Pacific coast at some future time as the colored question 
has been for the southern states. If anything it will be 
harder for the reason that these people are- more efficient 
as laborers and live more economically, and in the end 

82 



BY LAND AND SEA 

will eliminate the white laborer. He says the Anglo-Saxons 
should keep this country for themselves. 

Senator James of Kentucky is a large muscular man 
and vigorous mentally. He is a very pleasant man to meet. 
He goes right to the point in a proposition and wants to 
dispose of it to the best of his ability. He is a strong 
man and inspires confidence. 

Congressman Campbell of Kansas, is a small man, 
active and alert, a very pleasant gentleman. He is a man 
of ability and a good man in congress. 

Many of the men were strong, vigorous fellows. Con- 
gressmen Martine, Johnson, Cary, Hays, Mann of Illinois 
everyone knows, especially those who violate the "Mann 
act." This trip will be profitable in the end to all par- 
ties. Many have never seen the Pacific coast before. They 
have been impressed, by the need not only for better pro- 
tection to Hawaiian islands, but for the coast as well. 
"Uncle Joe" Cannon wants a stronger navy in every way, 
and an army of 500,000 men. The leanings of many are 
that way or at least the resistance is not so strong. This 
war and the sinking of the Lusitania have settled in many 
ways some of these problems which the next congress will 
enact into laws. 

Mr. George Lichty of Waterloo, was here attending 
the National Grocery association. He wanted to know why 
Captain Howell was not here, and inferred possibly, with 
a smile, that he was not making any money. Lichty was 
on the throne and seemed to be happy. It was a fine 
gathering. 

Mr. and Mrs. Blank of the Garden theater were here 
for a few days, taking in the fair, also James Lee and 
Mrs. Lee. John Evans is here connected with The Asso- 
ciated Press. Louie Evans, his brother, is with the Cali- 
fornia Packing company. 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The weather has been ideal for two weeks. Mr. DeVere 
Thompson came up from Los Angeles looking like a young 
man of twenty-one. He said he tried to get Mr. Hubbell 
to come along but the latter was too busy watching the rapid 
growth of Des Moines and an absence of a few weeks 
might cause him to get too far behind. There is lots of 
humor in Mr. Hubbell and I am sure he could have taken 
many a good laugh. Young men without money have no 
show out here, but middle aged and old men with money 
are the whole thing. This is the only place I know of in 
the United States where a man will approach you with his 
toes sticking out of his shoes, the seat out of his pants 
and a "golden smile" on his face, and he will declare to 
you that he is getting rich. The climate must do this. 
Climate bears all the burdens and takes all the pleasures. 
Here is the place to be busted, happy and young at three 
score and ten. Every man's hat, and woman's too, for that 
matter, is in the ring. "Smile and the world smiles with 
you, weep and you weep alone." 



San Francisca, Cal. 

IT IS odd to hear the people of San Francisco speak of 
"down the peninsula," and this means for many miles, 
the bay on one side and the ocean on the other. This is 
Santa Clara valley, and the lower part of which is Palo 
Alto, and then San Jose. 

Thei:e are thousands of acres that have been made by 
man with the assistance of nature, and the ocean alone has 
been doing great work for hundreds of years, yes, thou- 
sands. The wind at the Cliff house sometimes blows at the 
rate of 100 miles an hour. I took a drive one day along 

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BY LAND AND SEA 

the ocean beach when the gale was sixty miles an hour. 
The air was so filled with sand that I had to protect my 
eyes by closing them. Sand was lifted and carried hun- 
dreds of feet and after being dropped and resting for a 
few days another gale lifted more sand, including this, and 
sent it further inward, and so it has been going on for 
ages, long before this city was started, of course. 

Now what has been the result but more land around San 
Francisco.'' The Golden Gate park, consisting of 1,040 
acres, was made in this way. The low ground in San 
Francisco, facing and adjoining the water, was no doubt 
formed in this way. The northern part is very hilly and 
in places quite steep. The tides here are quite strong and 
go up seven and eight feet in calm weather. 

Because of this manner of land-building is it possible 
that strong tidal waves wore away the support underneath 
causing the earth to settle, which it did in the low places? 
And in doing so the water mains broke and when the fire 
started it had full swing and did nearly all the damage, so 
that the natives refer to it as the great fire. Of course 
the peninsula was shaken as far as Palo Alto and the famous 
chapel of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University was seriously 
damaged. It was built with a very heavy tower and this 
tower crashed through the building, doing much damage. 
This chapel cost $1,000,000 and the interior was most 
beautifully finished, the altar with Mosaic gold inlaid and 
twelve niches containing the apostles carved in Italy from 
Italian marble. It has been rebuilt, almost finished the 
same as before, but without the tower. 

So many do not admit it was an earthquake, and pos- 
sibly it was not, and in any event it is forgotten and may 
never occur again, at least, not for ages. 

The Golden Gate park is large, well located, with beau- 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

tiful drives, walks and equestrian roads that make a ramble 
through the park a desire and a pleasure. Tropical plants, 
shrubbery, vines, trees and flowers, artistically planted and 
arranged, make a most pleasing effect to the eye and the 
senses. Lakes abound in many places with ducks, swans, 
etc., sporting in the water, and some animals, all going to 
please the people. 

They have erected a large building after Egyptian style 
of architecture, and have it filled with geological, animal, 
sociological and historical subjects. I profitably spent a 
day in this building looking at the extensive collections in 
so many lines. 

They have also set aside several rooms for the literary 
people and painters who claim California their home or 
did one day. Many fine paintings are there on exhibition, 
and this alone is an inspiration to the present and future 
generations. I noticed a few paintings donated by rich 
people who have passed away and executed by artists who 
have world-wide reputations. A few antique bronze figures 
are there, also marble statuary and busts, and some good 
copies of foreign figures. 

This is the only large park owned by the city. It has 
several small ones located in different parts of the city, 
many of them very beautiful and popular. They are con- 
venient resting places for the neighborhoods in which they 
are located, and because of the tropical climate, the vegeta- 
tion is varied and flowers are the chief decoration. The 
Golden Gate park is the only one provided with music, and 
here every Sunday a brass band plays for the pleasure of 
the multitude. Of course, here the parks are open the 
year round because of the climate, the real winter months 
being July and August, and these only slightly cooler than 
the balance of the year, thus making this city one of the 

86 



BY LAND AND SEA 

best summer resorts of them all. This alone ought to be 
quite a drawing card for the exposition, and when the peo- 
ple once become familiar with this phase of life here, to 
the advantage of the city in the future. 

One of the most interesting places adjoining, or near 
by Golden Gate park, is the famous seal rocks. Here 
nearly one hundred seals make their home the year round 
and have been doing so for many years. Why they do it 
no one can tell you. The number increases slowly. At 
this point the land is owned by the estate of Sutro, a former 
mayor of San Francisco. He was a mining engineer and 
died very wealthy. He built nearby a bathhouse costing 
something like $1,000,000 where people can take real salt 
baths with luxury. Many little shops and a hotel are 
located here, and the water not being very deep, the fish 
congregate there in large numbers. This makes living for 
the seals easy, as they are very fond of fish. The fish are 
easy to catch and the seals grow fat. On chilly, windy days 
they remain under water, one occasionally raising its head 
to take a glance at the waves of the ocean and the tem- 
perature, and then dropping out of sight. If the sun shines 
and it is warm, they crawl on the rocks and bask in the 
sunshine for hours. Nearby are the Sutro gardens, a beau- 
tiful, quiet little spot, high and commanding a fine view 
of the ocean. The estate maintains all these and the land 
is very valuable, estimated in the millions. The heirs tried 
at one time to get the city to assume ownership and main^ 
tain them in exchange for other land owned by the city, 
but there was a hitch in the negotiations and the estate still 
owns them, and the gardens are maintained for the pleasure 
of the public free. 

On the other side of the city, just opposite, are the 
Italian fishermen's wharves. About 400 Italians make it a 

87 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

life work and they are typical fishermen, some old and gray 
with age and exposure to the winds on the water. They 
are odd and homely dressed, and here you see father, sons 
and brothers and neighbors doing a life work, patient and 
industrious. They fish day and night in small gasoline 
boats, provided with nets and all the implements of the 
trade. If they get a good catch some of these small boats 
will bring in half a ton, and often no more than one or two 
hundred pounds. Whatever they catch they are disposed 
of promptly to the public, and thus tons upon tons of fresh 
fish are thrown on the market of San Francisco every week. 
The cooks know how to send them to the table, too. I have 
tasted some delicious sandabs, the finest I ever ate. They 
are cheap, so meat is within reach of the poorest. 

The Chinaman and Jap fish some, but the Italians seem 
to be in it strong, and for business. About 40,000 Italians 
live in the city, and it is estimated 300,000 are in the state. 
They are already arranging to collect and send home to the 
government for war purposes $100,000 a month. Some are 
wealthy and many are prosperous. A large number are 
engaged in the fruit business in all its phases. They work 
hard and live cheap, and thus prosper in the land of plenty. 
It is what we save, rather than what we make, that in the 
end makes us rich. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

YOU could not be here long without meeting the Hon. 
John P. Irish. I have met both him and his son, who 
is in business at Stockton. Colonel Irish is a man of 
ability and, as many of his friends in Iowa know, has the 
power and inclination on the slightest provocation, to make 
his position known on any question. 

88 



BY LAND AND SEA 

One lawyer said to me that the colonel was all rights but 
he was on the wrong side of most every question. This 
lawyer is a strong prohibitionist and for woman suffrage, 
and Irish is against both. The former told me in the 
colonel's campaign against the women, a bright woman 
undertook to answer him. She said that Colonel Irish had 
been deceiving the people on the coast for years; that he 
had been posing all along as colonel and he had the word 
Irish dangling at the end of his name and he was not 
entitled to use either. But all the same there is only one 
Colonel Irish. His son cordially invited me to go to 
Stockton and he would take me in his automobile down the 
San Joaquin valley, and I may go. 

Many will remember Mr. Foshay Walker, a young attor- 
ney from Washington, D. C, and his friend, Mr. Gilbert. 
Mr. Walker was in with Hon. John S. Runnells, now presi- 
dent of the Pullman Palace Car company. He is one of 
the strong attorneys of the Southern Pacific railroad, hav- 
ing come directly here on leaving Des Moines, and enter- 
ing the legal department of this corporation some twenty- 
seven years ago. He has two boys, now young men, and 
is doing well. Mr. Gilbert passed away last year in Wash- 
ington. 

I also met Major JefFry, an army officer of the old 
school, and who knows some of the army boys at Des 
Moines, and Rear Admiral Phillips of the navy. We have 
read much about this man and I was glad to meet him. He 
is a very pleasant gentleman with hair as white as snow. 

I met James G. Blaine, Jr., a j'^oung man handicapped 
by the transcendent distinction of a great father and hence 
a great name. I feel sorry for boys who have distinguished 
fathers and carry their names. They are the tailend of a 
kite, by introduction and otherwise, no matter where they 

89 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

are found or what occupation they follow. They must 
make good and be "A-1" with their father and are never 
tolerated to fall below number two, and if they do, they 
are pushed aside as no good — "A worthless boy, not the 
man his father was." So you see step by step on his bob- 
sled he slides down from the top of the hill over the snow 
and ice, and sometimes never stops until he touches the 
bottom, and young Blaine has been no exception to the 
rule. 

He is a large, fine looking fellow with some evidences 
of dissipation with the big nose and face of his father. 
Something was left out sure in his making or about his 
environments, for you would recognize by his face that he 
was the picture of his father, and his father's son. I was 
told he was keeping books for a taxicab company. He has 
been married several times, and this might have been his 
mascot in the direction of sunshine and flowers. Be that 
as it may, this is the ups and downs of life and "why 
should the spirit of mortal be proud?" 

I also met Mr. Sidney Love of Moore Bros.' fame while 
in New York. He has a gold mine here trying to recoup 
his lost fortune. He is a good-natured, hopeful looking 
individual, and like most mining men is just on the eve of 
surprising most everyone. He inquired after his relatives 
of Des Moines and wished them well. 

The most interesting of all the people I have met was 
Mrs. Clemens Wong of Chinatown. She is a sister of Mrs. 
Howard Gould, now divorced from Mr. Gould. Her first 
acquaintance with the China people began twenty-five years 
ago as a missionary among them. She is a Catholic, and 
in this way met her future husband, Mr. Wong. She was 
a missionary for nine years, and has been married to Mr. 
Wong for many years. They have no children of their 

90 



BY LAND AND SEA 

own, but have taken two Chinese children to raise, one six 
years of age and the other sixteen. She is short and heavy, 
kind and good-hearted. Her husband is a plain, kindly 
appearing old Chinaman, meaning harm to no one. They 
operate a curio store and have many relics of the earthquake 
for sale — I should have said the fire that destroyed San 
Francisco, as people living here designate it, never using 
the word earthquake. They also operate a tea room, pick- 
ing up all they can towards a living. Their business is 
small. Women sacrifice much in taking such steps, for their 
future life cannot be otherwise than limited even to the 
doing of good. 

Another person of interest I have seen several times is 
Hon. George Knight, the distinguished orator and lawyer 
of San Francisco. He made the oration nominating Roose- 
velt for president the last time. He has lived in California 
sixty-two years, forty being in San Francisco. He has 
invited me to take an automobile ride up one of the valleys, 
and I have accepted. He is a large man with a pleasant 
personality, enjoying good health and likes to meet his 
friends. He was a great admirer of Senator DoUiver, and 
said he regretted it much when he first heard of the senator's 
death. He felt his best work was to be done in the future. 

Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Wyman have a son here meeting 
with success at the bar. He is a fine young man. They 
have taken an apartment for a few months to be with him 
and enjoy the fair. With their automobile they are enjoy- 
ing themselves indeed. 

Not many Iowa people are here as tourists or otherwise. 
The Krankels and Sheuermans were here and have gone. 
Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Berryhill are at Berkeley with their 
son and daughter. Mrs. Berryhill likes it here very much, 
so she told me. They might become a fixture. 

91 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

San Francisco, Cal. 

FOR a change the other morning I took a train to Santa 
Cruz, Del Monte, Monterey and Pacific Grove, the lat- 
ter 126 miles south of this city. 

Santa Cruz is eighty-six miles south, only. It is a 
town of about 12,000 inhabitants consisting of retired peo- 
ple, tourists and some ranchers, and is a very pretty place. 
Some are engaged in fishing, but not extensively. The hotel 
facilities are good, the climate is pleasant for tourists and 
there is a bathing beach, which is one of the best on the 
coast. At present it is in bad shape, as the difi'erent build- 
ings were erected by private individuals, and because of 
financial troubles they are now in the hands of receivers, 
locked up and poorly kept. The beach will never prove a 
success as a private enterprise, so some of the business men 
are trying to induce the city to take it over and operate it. 
There is nothing else in the town to attract tourists. It is 
a berry section, and some are engaged in dairying and 
poultry. 

Another reason why it will not be a success is because 
a few miles beyond the Southern Pacific railway established 
one of the most magnificent outing places I have ever seen 
and built the Del Monte hotel, with a capacity for 600 
guests. Just six miles away it built at Pacific Grove the 
Pacific Grove house, not so expensive, but very home-like — 
just the place for a man and his family who desire quiet 
and retirement, for Del Monte does the social stunts. Mrs. 
M. I. Manlove has charge of this hotel and she is the right 
person in the right place, most pleasant and genial and 
accommodating. 

From this house I took the seventeen mile drive, return- 
ing to the Del Monte hotel for the night. 

My friend Myerly and Brother Hanna ought to come 

92 



BY LAND AND SEA 

out and take this drive and see some of the finest gravel 
roads they have ever seen. The Pacific Improvement com- 
pany owns both hotels and made the roads and maintains 
them. Some of them have been down for thirty years and 
they are fine — clay and gravel and well drained. The com- 
pany has 7,000 acres in this tract and have established 
forty miles of beautiful drives through the hills, the coast 
and interesting spots, and some day hope to have it covered 
with fine homes on one acre or more. The seventeen mile 
drive is around the coast of the Pacific ocean. It is one 
of the most beautiful and magnificent scenes of its kind I 
have ever seen. To see only means to admire. 

First we came to the "restless sea," where the currents 
cross each other and the water is restless, indeed, and in 
case of storms ships have been driven on the rocks and 
lost. The rocks all along this coast are rugged and weather 
beaten and seamed with ages from the onslaught of the 
water, and some of them are large. 

The next interesting sight is a large rock covered with 
sea lions, not seals, basking in the sunshine. There are 
scores of them out taking a sun bath. 

You then reach another rock beyond covered with birds 
the year round. Even pelicans were there with the other 
birds, and they had congregated in large numbers. 

We passed through a beautiful grove of Monterey pines, 
beautiful trees. Then came the cedars of Lebanon, a large 
number of them. It is claimed by the people here that 
nowhere on earth do these trees grow except here, Japan 
and Palestine. They were odd and interesting to me. Then 
we came to the "lone tree" some distance from the shore in 
the water growing out of a large rock, green and alive. That 
is living under the most adverse circumstances. Another 
tree not far away which was of interest to me is one claimed 

93 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

to be 2,000 years old, all dead except one branch, which is 
green and prosperous and is called the "witch," for it 
has been in this condition for many years. Trees are as 
interesting to study as human beings and the freaks among 
them as unexplainable. 

There are some interesting little villages as you near 
the end of your journey. The first one is Pebble Beach, 
with a few cottages near the shore. Here is where they 
get the beautiful abalone shells that they make so beautiful 
by polishing. Then comes the Lodge, a beautiful rustic 
building with a large living room with an immense fireplace, 
a dining room and a bar with all kinds of refreshments. 
This is where you are supposed to take a rest by getting 
out and walking some, of course towards the bar to help 
the good cause along. Prohibitionists are served with tem- 
perance drinks, but are not prohibited from indulging in 
the other drinks if no one is around, and such good luck 
may happen at times. 

The next two towns are Carmel and Monterey, the 
former the home of a few artists and literary people, most 
possibly being cranks, and the latter filled with objects of 
historical interest. I intend to return and look up some 
of these objects, except the cranks, and hope I may dig 
up something of interest. 

Then I arrived at Hotel Del Monte, hidden in a grove 
that must surpass the "groves of Athens." Flowers and 
drives abound everywhere, the spot is a dream, a delightful 
spot for a few days' rest and recreation when the weather 
is hot elsewhere. 



94 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco, Cal. 

THE ferry is at the foot of Market street and it is the 
starting point for everywhere. Thousands of people 
pass and repass there every day. Some are on pleasure 
and others are going to and from work. All look well, the 
women have good complexions and nearly all look well fed 
and well clothed. Possibly it is the out door life that the 
people lead here that gives them the glow of health. It is 
a city of hotels and apartment houses and not a city of 
homes. A home is looked upon as a care and burden, hence 
the things you see and expect around a home are not found, 
except in a small degree. This is the unfortunate part of 
the life of this play as it directs the thoughts and conduct 
of human beings into channels that are not the best and 
most wholesome for the young as well as the old. The 
thoughts are of today and not of tomorrow and next day. 

I took a trip the other day to Sausalito. Little villages 
and towns are located in every direction from San Fran- 
cisco and many of them on the bay. This town is reached 
by boat in a few minutes. When you arrive you find six 
electric suburban trains owned and operated by the South- 
ern Pacific ready to take you in six different directions up 
the valley, rich in poultry, dairy and vegetable products. 
These roads bring these products in by the ton and carry 
people by the thousands. These roads cover the territory 
thoroughly and no other roads need apply. 

Sausalito is a small town interesting in many ways. 
It is largely residential, of the people residing there some 
are retired and some are conducting their business in San 
Francisco. They have good facilities for getting back 
and forth, many having private yachts. There is one thing 
you can say for the Southern Pacific: it may charge all the 



95 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

traffic will bear, yet it renders you a fine, quick service in 
the territory occupied by it. 

There are many fine homes on the hills, an ideal place 
for a view of the bay and surroundings, and not a bad 
climate. On the other side of the hills and along the water 
front poorer people exist. Many Italians live in this sec- 
tion. The homes on the hills are built one above the other 
making it quite picturesque indeed. Small trees, shrubbery, 
vines and flowers abound everywhere, even in the winding 
roads. 

From here I took a small tug boat and went to the island 
of Belvedere. This is reached in a few minutes. And 
stepping out on the dock you glance up and see Jacob's 
ladder which you must climb or stay for the next boat to 
depart. I have gained fifteen pounds to my regret since 
coming here and realizing the need of physical exercise. 
I advanced like a soldier towards the top. I landed all 
right and found beautiful drives clean as a floor. After 
going a short distance I met a beautiful maiden dressed in 
pink, bare headed, rosy cheeks and white sandals on her 
feet. She was elastic and graceful in her movement and 
the very picture of health, and her simplicity made her 
beautiful. 

She passed by and soon returned overtaking me, then 
I realized she was taking her constitutional. I could not 
help asking her some questions about the island, which she 
answered pleasantly, and then glided on like an athlete, 
and then I noticed her later leave the roadway, ascending a 
long winding stairway to a higher hill. And when I ap- 
proached that point I was prompted to glance up that 
stairway for the beautiful maiden, but she was gone — ^like 
a dream — nowhere to be seen. I walked on and soon saw 
approaching a fairy, about 20, weight about 120 pounds, 

96 



BY LAND AND SEA 

possibly one or two pounds more or less, gliding along in 
the highway like a bird, with tan hat, dress, shoes and silk 
stockings to match. As she apjDroaclied I noticed her head 
and face and saw that her dress was decollete, not too low 
but low enough, and her eye had a healthy, merry twinkle. 
I passed by thinking. 

When a few steps beyond I found myself possessed with 
a desire no doubt similar to that of Lot's wife of ancient 
history, so I turned to "look back." To my surprise I 
noticed that she had economized on the length of her skirt. 
It came only an inch or two below her knees. And such 
beautiful limbs, like the deer of the forest, carved most 
artistically^, tapering to small, graceful ankles, most pleasing 
indeed, and had it been Michelangelo instead of myself he 
would have reached for his chisel to carve them in marble 
and thus would have perpetuated to the delight of mankind 
his observation of beauty. As for myself, I said, "Long 
live the island of Belvedere." 

This island is one mile wide and two and one-half miles 
long, purely residential, some of the homes palatial. Here 
they are built also one above the other and in appearance 
recall the scenes of Switzerland to those who are familiar 
with that country. Stone walls protect the roadway and 
flowers and vines are in abundance everywhere. The people 
are well to do. One home, with its pipe organ, cost the 
owner $700,000. In the valley below on the bay the fisher- 
men live in their huts and houseboats. There you must go 
to buy an orange or a box of matches. It is a beautiful spot 
with ideal climate, a poet's dreamland. There you could 
say with Goethe, "Stay, hapj^y moment." 



97 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

San Francisco, Cal. 

TAKE the year through, I have about made up my mind 
that this city has the best climate of any city in the 
United States. It is cold enough to keep you braced up 
and feeling good, and warm enough not to exhaust you or 
cause discomfiture. It gets cool towards evening when you 
will require a top coat at times, unless you are vigorous and 
young and have no throat or lung trouble. Old people re- 
tire to their homes in the evening, and on retiring through- 
out the year you sleep under covers and hence get a good 
night's rest. 

The winds are disagreeable at times and so are the fogs, 
but the air is pure and bracing, and when you get accli- 
mated, you pay no attention to either. The middle of the 
day is clear and balmy and you enjoy life as you never 
have before. 

A thirty minute trip will take you away from the winds 
and fogs if you dislike them. Richmond, Berkeley, Oak- 
land and Alameda have come into existence largely from 
this cause. Richmond is purely a manufacturing town of 
about 25,000 people. The Standard Oil company has in- 
vested many millions there and many other concerns have 
established plants. Oakland comes next with manufactur- 
ing plants, and its business men are making an eflPort 
to increase its wealth in this way, and are meeting with 
some success. The Southern Pacific railway controls this 
town, as the Santa Fe controls Richmond, with this similar- 
ity: many people have selected Oakland as a good place to 
retire in, while Berkeley is its rival in this respect with the 
state university located there which gives it a prestige for a 
quiet, retired life with people of wealth and tastes that 
an educational institution would attract. 

98 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco has a population of about 450,000 people, 
yet with these other cities near it and really part of it, fully 
760,000 people live in and about San Francisco. They 
claim that Oakland alone in the way of wages and salaries 
of men and women who live there and labor in San Fran- 
cisco draws $50,000,000 a year out of San Francisco. Thirty 
minutes on one of the ferries will land you at any of these 
towns, and thus you escape the winds and the fogs. To give 
you some idea of the magnitude of the passenger business 
on the ferries, the report for 1914 has just been published, 
and over 30,000,000 of people were handled. 

These conditions have been brought about not only be- 
cause of the winds and fogs of San Francisco, but because 
of high taxes and political manipulations in public life. 
The history in the past has not been the best, or what it 
should be, but time is changing conditions very rapidly. 
Economic conditions are making great changes in the life 
and habits of the people of San Francisco. They are hard 
up and have begun to economize. Money is harder to make, 
and they have not so much to spend. This is bringing about 
a simpler life and, of course, with it a better life. It is 
working for temperance and the saloons are driven hard to 
make expenses. Treating is becoming a lost art, each man 
buying his own drink, and this materially reduces the 
volume of business for the saloon man. It is going to be- 
come more so with time. So this state is growing towards 
temperance, especially the southern half, to such an extent 
that the northern half has many advocates for the division 
of the state, leaving the southern half to itself. The south- 
ern half has the oranges and the northern half has the 
wineries, and the state being nearly 1,000 miles long, this 
might not be a bad plan, working to the best interests of 
each section. 

99 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

San Francisco is paved with granite blocks and asphalt, 
the hills with the former and the level streets with the lat- 
ter. Horses could not go up the hills otherwise, as many 
sections are quite steep. 

Neither the streets nor the sidewalks are in good condi- 
tion. You can forget this when you recall that the city 
was destroyed only nine years ago and is now being rebuilt. 
It takes time, and the increased burdens on the people have 
been great and heavy. 

I saw them repairing some sunken asphalt which inter- 
ested me very much. They had a device to go over the 
sunken part in the nature of a stove or oven that generated 
heat by gasoline to 300 degrees, this softened the asphalt, 
then it was raked, giving it a corrugated surface, then new 
asphalt was spread over the sunken place, binding perfectly, 
and bringing all to a level surface. Des Moines could 
adopt this method with great profit and to the delight of 
all automobile owners who have many times tried to pick 
out the soft spots. The business men had better get my 
friend Myerly and Brother Hanna to come out and look this 
up, or at least investigate it. I am at their service if they 
come right away and I know I can put them next to many 
good friends I have met since coming here. I have met 
many Iowa people visiting the exposition the past month, 
among them Dr. Nysewander and his family. Will John- 
son the attorney of Eagle Grove returning from the Orient 
remained a few days. Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Robinson, Carl 
Kahler and wife are here this week. John Mulvaney and 
his wife have been sightseeing also. Harry Phillips and 
Mrs. Phillips are here for several weeks. 

This is a good time to come for all exhibits are com- 
pleted and the buildings and grounds look beautiful. The 
weather continues to be fine and will for some time. Things 

100 



BY LAND AND SEA 

of interest are occurring every week and you will not be 
at a loss to enjoy yourself for awhile at least and rest up 
for work on your return home. Nothwithstanding my 
friend, Mr. Hubbell, I believe in short vacations for every 
one, especially for married people. They learn to know 
each other better by having short absences, and are glad 
often to resume the old acquaintance. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

CHINATOWN of San Francisco is a place that exists in 
no other city in the United States and is not likely to 
in the future. This city no doubt will continue to have that 
distinction peculiar to itself. It started here very early and 
grew with time, and became headquarters for the Chinese in 
the United States. 

These people control about thirteen blocks of the city 
not far from the business center. They are engaged in all 
lines of trade and some of the stores are fine and up-to-date 
in management. Bright, educated Chinese manage them 
and you can go among them and receive every consideration 
you deserve. 

You will find groceries, meat shops, shoe shops, dry 
goods stores, drug stores, restaurants, hotels, tailor shops, a 
theater, newspaper and a bank, in fact, everything you 
would find in a small city, for this is a city within a city. 

Before the earthquake it was estimated that thirty to 
thirty-five thousand Chinese lived in this city, but that 
calamity, followed by the fire, destroyed about everything, 
and many became discouraged and went elsewhere and some 
returned to the old country. At the present time it is esti- 
mated that fifteen to twenty thousand reside here now. 

101 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Some of the merchants have been very prosperous. One 
firm. Sing Fat company, has gone into the millions. They 
all deal exclusively in Chinese goods, being importers, and 
retail and wholesale from this point. They deal exclusively 
with one another, except in labor. Here they branch out 
and the men and women work out in all lines. Some are 
engaged in fishing, some as day laborers, truck gardeners 
and house servants and return to Chinatown to sleep and 
spend their money. 

I hear from every source that they are the most capable, 
reliable servants to be had on the coast. They are on the 
job early and late, always at work; in fact, their work is 
never done. They never break a contract with an employer, 
not even in sickness, for next morning a substitute is sent 
to hold the place and the employer is never inconvenienced 
for a minute. They are honest in the fullest sense of the 
word, even to the payment of their debts. If they see they 
are going to fail to meet their obligations on time, they 
will inform you in advance and have a new day set and 
then they come forward promptly and pay. They never 
get drunk, and no Chinaman was ever known to be arrested 
for this offense. They were never known to abuse a woman 
or a child. They are gentle, simple creatures apparently 
trying to live correct, upright lives. 

On the other hand, they have troubles among themselves. 
They have disturbances that have their root back in the old 
country very similar to the feuds that exist in some of the 
southern states. In other words, factions exist among them 
here the same as in their old country, which terminates 
sometimes in murder. 

It is most difficult to punish, let alone apprehend, a vio- 
later of the law. They commingle, live and cohabit among 
themselves. It is hard for this reason for Americans, espe- 

102 



BY LAND AND SEA 

cially officers, to distinguish the guilty from the innocent. 
And then, evidence is lacking. No Chinaman knows the 
guilty, he is ignorant, for knowledge and its revealment 
would cost him his own life. Therefore to know nothing 
is his security and protection. 

Then again the buildings are often connected by secret 
passages with the openings so skilfully joined that you see 
no break in the wall. The officer is blind and the China- 
man is wise. When making his escape he can go in at one 
end of the block through a business room and in a few min- 
utes make his exit at the other end of the block, or at some 
other point, upstairs or down. Inability to identify many 
because of their seclusion and secret passageways through 
the buildings and refusal of their own people to identify 
the guilty person makes their escape easy. 

Six years ago a young Chinaman and young China- 
woman were on the sidewalk talking and in a few minutes 
he pulled a revolver and shot her dead. He darted into 
a building and still remains at large. This happened in the 
middle of the afternoon. 

A few years ago a Chinaman got warning that he was 
going to be killed. He closed up his affairs, hired a large 
man for a body guard, and one day when he and his body 
guard were coming out of the basement taking his depart- 
ure, some Chinaman across the street upstairs fired and the 
marked man fell dead. The murderer has never been 
caught. This happened in the forenoon. 

Yet with all this Barbary coast is next door and China- 
town has nothing to do with it. They are strangers to 
each other in every way. There is no association or com- 
mingling together. Chinatown lives by itself and to itself 
in every sense of the word. 

103 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The great trouble with the Chinaman is his tendency 
to gamble and smoke dope. They are great gamblers 
among themselves. In times gone by some of the influen- 
tial politicians forced the Chinamen to pay $12,000 a month 
for the privilege of operating gambling dens among their 
own people. No doubt some public official must have been 
next. The Chinaman has been robbed and abused time 
and again, yet he is still patient, hardworking John. Yet 
when a merchant becomes offensive to his own people, or a 
building is marked by a certain Chinese character, which 
you would not recognize if you saw it, no one would enter 
that store or rent a building so marked. Both are dead. 

And this Chinatown conceived, organized and estab- 
lished in its old country the first Chinese bank in China. 
This was an idea absorbed here and planted beyond the 
Pacific to grow and change things in the old home, to make 
it not what it used to be. 

The women at home wear trousers with a loose cloak or 
cape falling to the knees. The new republic and the new 
women of China are donning skirts, etc., and thus contact 
makes more than one change. Styles will follow in time, and 
change of styles, with hats (and now it's no hats) and then 
new hats, and so pity the young Chinese husband to come, 
unless his wages expand likewise, and so goes the world. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

EX-PRESIDENT William Howard Taft is truly hav- 
ing the time of his life in this city at the present time. 
They have been keeping him busy addressing one organi- 
zation after another and he seems to enjoy it all. 

I met him alone for a few minutes and enjoyed a short 
chat. His shape has improved very much since he was 

104 



BY LAND AND SEA 

president, standing upright with his "front" materially re- 
duced, and a pleasant, happy smile coming from a large 
genial man is truly sunshine and a delight. He is getting 
quite gray with a mustache that was once a handsome black 
but now sandy and approaching the gray fast. His weight 
has been reduced about eighty pounds and the loss of so 
much flesh gives his face the appearance of being flabby. I 
congratulated him on his fine appearance and apparent good 
health and he said: "I am happy and enjoy the best of 
health since I got into a respectable business," then he 
laughed. 

He has been introduced as Professor Taft, Dr. Taft, 
Judge Taft and President Taft, as the occasion might be, 
and at all times has been in the best of humor and most 
cordially and respectfully received by his audiences. His 
addresses have been open and frank and thoughtful, show- 
ing that sincerity which carried conviction in almost every 
case. 

When he addressed the California Bar association he 
had about 500 lawyers present, including Federal and state 
judges. United States senators and prominent men from 
different sections of the country, and about 100 visitors. 

After a few pleasant remarks he launched out into a 
serious discussion on the subject "When Peace Is Declared 
after the Present Wars — What.-* And What is the Duty 
of the United States under the Circumstances.''" 

He said this country is not prepared to defend itself 
and should take steps at next session of congress to make 
preparations to protect itself as a nation with a navy second 
only to that of England. He said trouble with England 
was remote because of treaty obligations, like institutions 
and language and because England would most likely 
always have a small army, depending on her navy. He 

105 



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urged better coast defenses to protect our cities while our 
navy would be at work elsewhere; more submarines and 
aeroplanes. He thought we should double the capacity of 
West Point so as to have more officers and use them to in- 
struct and drill civilians in war tactics; add 20^000 more 
men to our navy, and more officers; increase our regular 
army to 200,000 men and increase the state militia so that 
in six months we could have an army of 500,000 men, 
trained and ready for action when the country was threat- 
ened with danger. He said a large navy never threatened 
the liberties of a people, but a large army sometimes did, 
hence a large navy because of our extensive shore line and 
its safety. 

He said this meant increased taxes, hence he suggested 
that the income tax be retained and the amount exempted 
be reduced to $1,200 per annum. The tariff might be in- 
creased some from the present standard to meet the 
increased expense. Using his language, "may we be spared 
war if to be so is consistent with our own honor, dignity and 
interests. But I am not speaking of war. I am speaking 
of the burdens of a reasonable preparedness, which, if 
made, would certainly reduce the cost in the awful sacri- 
fice of lives which unpreparedness would bring." 

Judge Taft's temperament, experience in political and 
ministerial life and reputation as a genuine American citizen 
entitles him to speak with authority, and his suggestions 
should be weighed carefully by the American people, and 
by congress at the next sessions, for he says it will take four 
years to put us in a state of preparedness for military 
defense. 

His suggestions to avoid war among nations in the 
future are good and form a workable basis. He advocates 
an international league with powers to draw up a code of 

106 



BY LAND AND SEA 

international laws or rules regulating the rights and duties 
of nations entering the compact. A maj ority of the nations 
joining would make it a success in his judgment. He would 
then have an international court to hear and determine dis- 
putes between the nations in the compact, interpret the 
rules and regulations established by the league, and pro- 
nounce and enter judgment accordingly, all nations in the 
compact being pledged to enforce said judgments. He said 
America was in position to take the lead in this respect. 

His theories are based on the early history of the United 
States. The original colonies he likened to separate na- 
tions among which disputes arose, citing cases, which were 
disposed of in a similar way. He also made a similar com- 
parison of disputes arising among the states. He cited the 
drainage case of Chicago and St. Louis, or Illinois and Mis- 
souri, and the water rights of the Colorado river between 
Colorado and Kansas. These suggestions are worthy of the 
most serious consideration and the "Peace" agitators 
through their different organizations could render the world 
a great service by taking up some practical suggestions like 
these and securing their adoption by a majority of the na- 
tions. Urging disarmament will get them nowhere. Pur- 
suing a plan that will obviate the necessity of armament will 
accomplish everything. 

The exposition since Aug. 1 has been well attended. 
Many distinguished persons have been in attendance and 
addresses in many lines and to various gatherings have been 
made which have been both instructive and entertaining. 

Many Iowa people have been here. Dr. Houston and 
his wife, W. L. Brown and wife, the Van Aaken girls and 
the invincible Mose Jacobs and his son. There is only one 
Mose Jacobs who has worked as hard as any one and is 
entitled to a vacation and all the success that has come to 

107 



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him. Most successes are the result of hard work in the 
present or the past. J. N. Darling, "Ding," second to 
none, was here. 

( 



San Francisco, Cal. 

FRUIT alone never made any country rich. A man who 
invests his all in the raising of fruits with the idea of 
becoming a millionaire will die a disappointed man. This 
will apply to all kinds of fruits. At best you can say it is 
a pleasant occupation, and under proper conditions and good 
management a man so engaged will get only fair returns 
when he meets with success. 

This is so because great wealth comes from agriculture, 
manufacturing, mining and fishing, in the order named. 
From these come into existence commerce and transporta- 
tion and their allied connections. Agriculture is the basis 
of all wealth, and whenever men and interests can directly 
or indirectly get a hold on the sources of production from 
the fields great fortunes are made. It sustains all the other 
sources of wealth and can exist without them. Agriculture 
and manufacturing, when in combination, produce a great 
people, and strong progressive communities as trade centers 
spring up in ages, thus making the backbone of the nation. 
This is so because the middle and poorer classes find con- 
stant employment, enabling laborers to establish homes, 
clothe and educate their families and make of them profit- 
able consumers. No community can become rich and strong 
when the masses are poor. Agriculture and manufacturing 
give employment the year round, hence any community can 
become rich and strong and prosperous by unitedly working 
in these lines. This is why the protective policy is healthy 

108 



BY LAND AND SEA 

and sound. Thus you create your own markets and retain 
them for your own people^ that the masses may be constantly 
employed at a fair wage supplying the wants of your own 
people. 

This is the trouble with California. Her fruit orchards 
do not give constant employment to the masses. Droves of 
men and women are idle. Ask them and they say they 
are not to blame. Under our form of government it is not 
to blame and the community is not to blame. Then who is ? 

The railroads needed business and the real estate men 
could not live on climate^ so between them with the wise 
expenditure of money on literature and fine pictures^ they 
have started many travelers toward the golden sunsets. 
Many are here and cannot get away. Others want to come 
and some will come to their sorrow. But such is life. 

Railroad rates and labor unions and the order of "Sons 
and Daughters of the Golden West," have prevented capi- 
tal from going into manufacturing lines. The markets here 
have been limited. So the finest manufacturing location in 
the United States is a barren desert. The east depends 
much on fuel and this has its limit. The west has water 
power that will exist for all time. Some day these things 
will be righted and this will be the manufacturing section 
of the United States. 

They expected much in the way of rates from the 
Panama canal, but I do not see why this canal will not be 
of greater benefit to the Atlantic coast than to the Pacific 
coast. The east is in position to take advantage of the situa- 
tion now and when once obtained to hold it. However, the 
Southern Pacific is now making frequent applications to 
lower its through rates on many things, without affecting its 
local rates, to meet the competition of the Panama canal. 
Lower rates are bound to stimulate traffic, and in the end 

109 



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benefits must result to California. But can it take advan- 
tage of benefits? Not until it readjusts its business enter- 
prises so as to create employment throughout the year for 
the masses. Picking fruit when ripe is of short duration. 

A man told me his experience with his peach orchard. 
He had a force of men engaged to pick his peaches at a 
certain time. A hot wind came up and lasted for four days, 
causing the peaches to ripen ten days ahead of time, and 
no men to help him. Maturing, they fell to the ground. 
His force of men picked them from the ground, and the 
only thing he could do was to dry them. Others suflfered 
likewise, and there were so many dried peaches he sold them 
for less than five cents a pound. This only shows the un- 
certainty of one kind of fruit and the quickness of the 
harvest. Had he been able to have picked and put them in 
nice boxes a diiFerent story could have been told. 

The weather is fine here and I am told it will remain so 
until about July 1, when for a period of sixty days fogs 
come during the evening and last until 10 o'clock next day. 
It is cool during this period and not unpleasant to those who 
are used to it. The people of London do not mind their 
fogs, so it is the same here. It makes the summer cool and 
ought to be beneficial to the exposition. Since the weather 
became more settled the attendance has been gradually in- 
creasing. The grounds are becoming more beautiful every 
day, something like the Garden of Eden, although I never 
had the pleasure of a visit to that place. The exhibits are 
about all in, and many of them, to those especially inter- 
ested in different lines of industry, are worth going quite a 
distance to see. The most modern and up-to-date inven- 
tions in all lines of industry are here to be seen and for your 
study and improvement. One bent on self-improvement 
cannot help but profit by them. 

110 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Mr. W. W. Marsh is here with an exhibit, and on the 
side looking after Iowa interests. He is an active, wide- 
awake man. George H. France and wife, Guy Burnside 
and wife were here for a few days. Billy Koch, known 
locally as "General Koch," was here looking after the Yeo- 
man, and his sister did the honors of the fair. She told me 
her brother was put in the bathroom, yet he looked fine and 
appeared happy. Not many Iowa people have arrived yet. 

Possibly with woman suffrage and all the candidates for 
the honors of the state they have not the time to spare for 
a few days outing. Here's a penny that the girls will win 
the right to vote, because their increasing numbers demand 
it. I hope they can improve on the use men make of it. 
Yet it is a problem still unsolved. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

I FELT this beautiful afternoon would be appropriate to 
locate and visit the old home of Robert Louis Stevenson, 
the author, who wrote some pleasing things while he lived 
and no doubt brought happiness to many hearts. Most good 
writers scatter bread upon the streams of time and reach 
more little crevices and nooks and corners, influence more 
lives, provoke more thoughts and lead the young and the 
old to places and visions of real beauty they never dreamed 
of doing, when in the quiet of their study. In some hidden 
corner, they give their minds full swing among ideas and 
words to express them for the good and entertainment of 
aU. 

I found the home. The romance, the reminiscences 
faded away, as the present conditions were revealed to me 
wandering around the premises. All interest was dead and 

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buried with the author long ago, as I saw it. The house 
was there, a large, two story frame building, standing 
at the corner of Lombard and Hyde streets, a stone entrance 
with steps from the sidewalk from each street. The house 
was odd in architecture and design, just as an eccentric 
author would have. It is not far from the exposition 
grounds, hence near the bay, but on the hills giving it a 
commanding view in almost every direction, before the 
late improvements nearby were made. The writer bought 
eventually for the Carmelite sisters and when he moved to 
the Hawaiian islands they occupied it or a portion of it. 

Mr. Stevenson was married to a woman who had two 
children by a former husband. A partition was built divid- 
ing the house into two parts, and his stepson, Lloyd Osborne 
and his wife and children, lived in a part of it. This did 
not always work harmoniously for the two tenants disturbed 
each other. There were fifteen devoted Catholic women 
who wanted to live secluded lives in study and prayer, and 
they were not always permitted to have this pleasure and 
comfort. 

Back of the house was a good sized lawn surrounded 
by a high board fence. Next to the fence Stevenson had 
planted trees and shrubbery he had collected from diflPerent 
parts of the world. Here is an Arabian locust tree and 
there something else. They were thick indeed and it was a 
secluded spot, just what a writer would desire. Afterwards 
the sisters would go there on the open lawn to pray in the 
pure air and gentle breezes of the afternoon or twilight, 
with only the blue sky above, and distance alone, as they 
saw it, separating them from Heaven, a good woman's fond- 
est desire. 

This did not please the descendants of Mr. Stevenson, 
so when these good women were at their devotions, the 

112 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Stevensons would go out on a porch upstairs and have after- 
noon tea and chatter to the disturbance of the devotional 
exercises. To prevent this the sisters erected a screen of 
boards to prevent further observations. This solved the 
problem for a while only. A talking machine was pur- 
chased and put in motion and this ended the close relations, 
for the good women, like Christians, vacated and moved 
away some distance from San Francisco. They have grown 
in numbers, have accumulated much property and are now 
quite strong and influential. 

The Osbornes remained for some time and finally domes- 
tic trouble caused them to separate, Mr. Osborne residing in 
this state and his former wife with the children moving to 
New York city. Mr. Osborne shortly afterwards married 
again. 

The Stevenson homestead is now owned and occupied 
by strangers and divided into two parts as formerly. A 
servant broke off a small twig from the Arabian locust tree 
and gave me a large white rose, and thus ends the home of 
Robert Louis Stevenson with all its memories, sweet or 
otherwise. 

Boston does not do things this way. It has Faneuil hall, 
the tree under which Washington took command of the con- 
tinental army, enclosed by a high wire fence, and has pre- 
served the homes of Longfellow, Whittier and all the other 
things that make each generation born in Massachusetts 
proud of the state of its nativity. These things do impress 
the young as they grow up with patriotic, wholesome 
thoughts of the individual and home life, and are worth 
while. They should not be destroyed, but preserved for 
the good influences they have both on the young and the 
old. San Francisco is not rich in art or literature, and 
she should begin to build in this respect and judge human 

113 



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character from this point rather than from a monetary 
standard. This exposition was not conceived and projected 
with this purpose in view^ but from a commercial standpoint. 
It may be a failure as a commercial enterprise^ and if so, 
why not snatch victory from defeat and create a museum 
of art and science and literature out of it, making the city 
famous in higher and better channels? The grounds are 
ideal and easy of access. The climate all that could be 
asked for the year round. Wealth exists here in abundance, 
and a few individuals have it in their power to make this 
spot a palace of beauty, for students and tourists to visit 
for years to come. Do something worth while, so that no 
man or woman can make an excuse to visit foreign countries 
for instruction, pleasure and amusement in things this 
country has neglected so long. These are a matter of 
growth, and it takes time to build something of this kind 
that is worthy, and now is the time to begin, using this expo- 
sition and grounds as a nucleus around which to work. 

Governor Whitman and his staiF are here this week, and 
he is receiving much attention and at the same time is being 
closely observed as to his fitness for greater and more im- 
portant things. His conduct as governor of New York will 
settle his fate, and he seems to have acquitted himself well 
up to date. Is he of presidential size ? is the question. Our 
primary methods of selecting public officials have not 
resulted always in selecting our best and strongest men. 
Study and deliberation alone will do that, and conventions 
alone give such opportunities, and this is why we should 
not drift too far away on the seas of uncertainties. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Waterbury were here this week. 
They expect to be here several days looking after their 
bean ranch. 



114 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Francisco, Cal. 

THE builder of the Panama canal is here and a more 
modest gentleman you seldom meet. He is about six 
feet tall, smooth of face, large in every way and will tip the 
scales at about 225 pounds. He has a large aggressive 
looking head and face. A doer of things and not a talker. 
His voice is soft and gentle with no carrying powers, so 
his public address in the open at the exposition was a failure 
and the audience soon began to get restless and depart, yet 
it gave a most cordial reception to him at the start. 

Many people have trouble in pronouncing his name, so 
I was interested in his official introduction. It is spelled 
Goethals and pronounced Go-thals, the accent on the first 
syllable and the letter "a" the same as "a" in all. This 
makes it easy for us Americans. 

The notorious Harry K. Thaw is here with his friends. 
I have read so much about this young man and I was glad 
of the opportunity to see him and study him at close range. 

His father knew his son well and made such provision 
in his will that should have prevailed. The mother, how- 
ever, thought otherwise and was the innocent cause of bring- 
ing both him and her most of their troubles. The greatest 
wrong done this young man was lack of work and too much 
money. 

He is slim, about six feet tall, with bulging eyes and a 
face furrowed with dissipation and abuse. He will weigh 
about 160 pounds. He wears no beard, is nervous, quick in 
speech and action, and alert in observation. Degeneracy 
is written all over his face, coming largely from excessive 
living and wasting and abusing his vital energies during his 
early life. 



115 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

To me he is safe in his freedom so long as he remains 
away from dope and liquor. If he ever takes up those lines 
again with his supply of money anything might happen if 
he loses control of the mental capacity he enjoys in anger 
or drink. His mother will do well to protect him against 
those things. He is simply a spoiled child. Whether he 
has been punished for the killing of Mr. White is another 
question. Without capacity in a social or business sense he 
will soon be forgotten. 

The exposition had what it called an admission day and 
it was celebrated by the "Sons and Daughters of the Golden 
West." This is a secret as well as a political organization 
confined to the state of California, its object being to secure 
and hold all the positions in public and private life for its 
members. Its members are made up largely of public offi- 
cers and clerks, clerks and employes in stores, factories, 
hotels, railroads, etc., while the unions control the trades. 
This will show the young men and women of other states 
how difficult it is for such a person to secure a position with 
all this opposition which is used to boycott those violating 
its demands. It will drive a non-resident coming here to 
work for a living to absolute want. Do not come unless you 
have plenty of money to weather the siege, for it is a long 
one and hard to travel alone. 

To give some idea of its strength on the day of the 
parade it took three hours to pass a given point four and 
five in a row. It is estimated between thirty and forty 
thousand were in line. None but native sons and daughters 
can join the organization. This is an invitation to bring 
your money and spend it on the sunshine and showers, but 
nothing more. The more you bring the better times the 
Native Sons and Daughters will show you, at your expense. 



116 



BY LAND AND SEA 

This spirit is shown to all outsiders in every section or 
clime in some degree where the climate is mild. The initia- 
tive and aggressive spirit always originates and migrates 
from colder climates to the milder ones. If it were not for 
this, but little progress would be made in the warmer cli- 
mates. California is no exception to the rule. Think of 
the thousands who migrate this way in every decade and 
the millions of dollars they bring. It is the new blood and 
capital constantly flowing from sections that do things that 
cause life and energy to manifest themselves in the old 
as well as the new enterprises that exist here. These facts 
in history will not be admitted of course by the natives. 
People who do not work and resort for a living and to gain 
wealth by their wits never admit anything except that they 
are the chosen people for that particular spot of the earth's 
surface. 

Several Iowa people have been coming here lately. They 
have the money, and the only question with them is as to 
the loss of time. I met Earnest Brown, F. O. Green and 
Dr. Emery the other day. They were looking after insur- 
ance and business both. Mr. D. S. Chamberlain was also 
here with his son's family taking in the exposition. As 
usual Mr. Chamberlain, being young in spirit, wanted to 
cover the ground with speed. The first day was about all 
the women could stand, so Mr. Chamberlain retired as a 
chaperon. They are enjoying the fair very much. 



117 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

San Francisco, Cal. 

TO those who are contemplating a trip to the Pacific 
coast with a view of visiting the exposition at San 
Francisco, I desire to give such information and make such 
suggestions that will add to the pleasure of such a trip. 
You must remember that such a journey from the Missis- 
sippi valley involves a trip of about 5,000 miles over and 
through a territorj?^, beginning with the Rocky mountains, 
for scenery, grandeur, beauty and magnitude, extent and 
variety, surpassed nowhere in the world. To see and appre- 
ciate it in all its magnificence requires leisurely day travel- 
ing from place to place, from state to state, with open 
eyes and a mind free to receive and absorb the multitude of 
thoughts and feelings that will have full possession of your 
being as you journey along. 

On your arrival at San Francisco you will find a wide- 
awake people and a city beautiful in many respects, a city 
rebuilt and adorned on and over its own ruins of only nine 
years ago. This alone tells you that they are Americans 
full of life and energy and enthusiasm, no matter how 
great the calamity, they are full of hope for the future and 
have full confidence in the land and territory in which they 
have staked their all. This is shown by their restoring their 
leading city and following it up by the expenditure of mil- 
lions of dollars in an exposition, inviting the whole world 
to participate with them in their victory over the elements 
of nature, and this in the face of the greatest war the world 
has ever seen. Only American citizens with the fire of 
youth and enthusiasm can do all this in so short a time. 

They are part of the life, wealth and energy of the 
United States, and such courage and success should be re- 
warded by the balance of the country with patriotism and 
support. 

118 



BY LAND AND SEA 

This should be so because great care and pains and 
labor have been exercised to collect together the latest ideas 
of progress made up to date, with a line of study suggested 
for the future, in all the arts, sciences, professions, mechan- 
ics, industrial progress and civic life, to such an extent that 
no intelligent man or woman can make a study of the ex- 
hibits for two weeks without receiving much benefit there- 
from. The exhibits of the United States government in 
the different buildings will surprise you by showing you 
what is being done to make life worth living. It is trying to 
tell you the dangers of the rat, how to dig your well, build 
your house, take care of the sick, and banish the hookworm 
and its ravages, with wax figures showing up results. So 
everywhere you will find information, and of so much inter- 
est, that two weeks will give you a glance at what is here 
only, and to study carefully means months. 

The expense of a visit is largely what you desire to 
make it. The railroad fare is only nominal and you can 
take a tourist sleeper at half the cost of a Pullman. And 
you can carry a lunch with you, and also buy it along the 
way. When you want to you can do lots. 

The city is filled with hotels and apartment houses fur- 
nished and unfurnished, the suites running from one room 
up. I know a lady who came here and obtained a room with 
bath in one of the best hotels for $3 a day. She intended 
to remain for some time so rented a furnished apartment 
in one of the best apartment houses in the city and is pay- 
ing at the rate of $50 a month, water furnished. She takes 
care of the balance. She has a bath room, hot and cold 
water, a dressing room, a living room and a kitchenette with 
all the cooking utensils furnished. She has a bed in the 
wall and a sanitary couch. She knows how to cook and is 
happy. A husband and wife, with one or two children, 

119 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

could get along nicely in this apartment. Such apartments 
are everywhere, modern and up to date. 

You must remember food products are cheap here. But- 
ter is 30 cents, eggs 20 cents, bacon 20 cents, everything 
just as cheap, and some things cheaper than you have them 
at home. Truck gardens are everywhere and food from the 
garden is so cheap that when you make a purchase you will 
smile. 

The city and hotel people are trying to please and take 
care of all visitors. The city has three places where visi- 
tors can go and state what they want and are willing to 
pay, and you will be directed to responsible places, the 
same as you would at the state fair at Des Moines. It is 
conducted in the same way. 

The eating houses and cafeterias are everywhere from 
6 cents up just the same as at home. No trouble getting 
good things to eat at reasonable prices if you do just as you 
would at home. Fine cafes charge for style and service the 
same as at home. It is foolish to pay 15 cents for a cut of 
pie when you can get just as good for 6 cents elsewhere, 
unless you want to blow yourself. So with drinks. The 
same kind of beer in the same sized glass sells from 5 cents 
to 25 cents a glass, the price depending on the surroundings. 
My first experience cost 15 cents. I charged that up to 
education and smiled. He thanked me with a smile and I 
could not do otherwise. 

The hotels are not excessive or unreasonable. There is 
always one rule to observe — know what you are doing and 
make your contract in advance, then you will know whether 
you can stand it or not, and if you can, you will have sweet 
dreams and a peaceful sleep at night. I am stopping at 
the St. Francis, a clean, well managed, fine hotel, and my 
nights are restful with an occasional happy dream. 

120 



BY LAND AND SEA 

The weather is fine, and with July and August cool, 
makes this city a fine place for a summer's outing to the 
tired and weary. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

THE climate in California is like a crazy quilt, all colors 
and shades, and by moving a few miles away you can 
find just the opposite of the kind you left. Sunshine and 
flowers ; sunshine and showers ; fogs and snows in the moun- 
tains; fleas and dust and winds; prospects and realizations 
and dreams and fancies of all kinds. If you have the money 
you can get what you want; 75 per cent of all these things 
are on the market to sell. The fellow is here at the right 
place with a smile looking for you. Whether up or down 
he is full of hope and faith in the thing and the future, 
never discouraged, but with a smile looking for gold — your 
gold and the gold not found since 1849. It is all fascinat- 
ing, buoyant, interesting and entertaining. It is exhilarat- 
ing both to the young and the old, two periods in life above 
all others that need "watchful waiting," when beauty and 
charm and grace predominate. 

I took a trip down Santa Clara Valley, a ride of 104 
miles in an automobile. Apple, peach, cherry and prune 
orchards by the mile. Trees located in the ground with the 
precision of the spots on a checker board. The trees and 
ground trimmed and cared for like a lady's wardrobe for a 
wedding. They were all in bloom and the white blooms 
and sweet odors permeating the air all around you do have 
an intoxicating effect on a tenderfoot. And if you are in the 
hands of a local booster or an owner who likes you or wants 
you to live near him, the gold in your pocket will begin to 

121 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

move. Now a good remedy against your feelings under such 
pressure is to eat a heavy meal of pork and beans before 
you start and your feelings will not be so active under the 
spell of the scenery. 

There are many beautiful little towns everywhere, trad- 
ing centers, and the homes of many retired people. You 
pass Jim Corbett's log cabin, a roadhouse, now owned by 
other parties. Other roadhouses exist along the way. Here 
is where the key is lost, a bottle of wine is opened and all 
make merry. 

Palo Alto is a clean city and Leland Stanford univer- 
sity is near by. You are out of one town and then into 
another over hard-surfaced roads that are a pleasure and a 
delight. They do make country life superior to city life in 
every way. They bring communities closer together, and 
socially and commercially make for progress. They are in 
line with the telegraph, telephone, fast train and fast ship. 
A country without good roads so far as progress goes is the 
same as the mountainous regions compared to rich, broad 
prairies. 

On our arrival at San Jose we found a town of 35,000 
people, good hotels, six banks with $13,000,000 on deposit. 
The fruit dealers are thick. Many Italians are here and 
they know the game. Sometimes it is one hundred and 
ten degrees above zero, but the atmosphere being dryer, 
they tell me they do not mind it. It is a beautiful, quiet 
little city. 

San Francisco is surrounded by many points of interest, 
easily reached by one method or another. Now Mount 
Tamalpais is only a short distance to the north, reached 
by the ferry and a railroad, a very interesting piece of 
engineering. It is eight and one-half miles to the top of 
the mountain where you find a good hotel with good things 

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to eat. From the top you can see the Golden Gate, all San 
Francisco, the Panama exposition grounds, the bay, the 
Pacific ocean. San Quentin penitentiary with 2,000 crimi- 
nals, the prison made famous by the incarceration there of 
General Otis's structural iron men, the navy prison and 
ships of all sizes and shapes and scores of towns in every 
direction. You can see for miles and miles in fine, clear 
weather. You get there over the crookedest railroad, no 
doubt, in the world. More than once while sitting in the 
second coach I could see all the engine making a curve and 
two-thirds of the first coach ahead of me. Now that is some 
curve, and the grades are not slow, an elevation of 2,600 
feet in eight and one-half miles. You enj oy your trip better 
when you arrive at the starting point on your return. It is 
more pleasant to think about in your room at the hotel. 

When at the top of the mountain you are possessed with 
a desire to see Muir woods, the big redwoods, six, eight and 
ten feet in diameter, more or less, and many feet around, 
reaching upwards towards the beautiful blue sky so high. 
You go by gravity. Three or four cars are hooked together 
and filled with sightseers, all ages, sizes and complexions, 
and down the mountains you go roller coasting style, with 
curves and grades of sufficient interest to cause the relig- 
iously inclined to offer silent prayer and the wicked to 
resolve to take their medicine. A brakeman was at the 
wheel on each car, and because of fresh repairs on the track 
about two-thirds down, a man stood by the track and called 
out to each man at the wheel to keep his eye peeled as we 
went dashing along. He did not say which eye, and as far 
as the passengers were concerned, "it was for them to do and 
die" and keep still, and they obeyed the silent orders. 

We got down. I took a glass of ginger ale and then 
started for the woods. "All's well that ends well." The 

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trees are there all right and by the generosity of William 
Kent and a proclamation of ex-President Taft, they made 
a public park or zoo called Muir Woods^ named after John 
Muir, the Calif ornian geologist, who died recently. In the 
woods by a brook is a little hut said to be a place where 
Joaquin Miller, the poet, and John Muir spent many happy 
hours together communing in one of God's first temples. 
Indeed at night they must have been quite alone with the 
Spirit Divine, thinking their noblest and best thoughts while 
frying ham and eggs. 

On my return to the foot of the mountain. Mill Valley, 
California, I met and had a delightful little visit with Mrs. 
E. B. Whitcomb, the widow of Mr. E. B. Whitcomb, editor 
and owner of the old Mail and Times of Des Moines. She 
is just as charming and interesting and delightful as ever. 
She told me she longed to be back in Des Moines with her 
old time friends. Her son is connected with the railroad 
and she lives there to be with him. 

Mill Valley is a small but interesting place, like most 
villages located near the woods in and about the mountains. 
However, the service to San Francisco is frequent and con- 
venient. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

WHAT of it? As individuals we are wasteful and 
extravagant of our resources, undermine and fritter 
away our energies and strength in our mode of life, espe- 
cially in our cities, by late hours, dissipation, frivolity and 
ignoring the laws of health. As individuals we congregate 
and make communities, cities, and how can cities be much 
better than they are until you change the individual? We 
should not condemn public officials and public management 

124 



BY LAND AND SEA 

of our local affairs as much as the individuals composing 
the local communities from which public officials are chosen. 
If you carefully investigate the management of the public 
business and the public officials executing the public busi- 
ness of any city you will in most every case find the im- 
pulses and tendencies of the people in the cities whom the 
public officials represent, and their efforts being in line to 
serve the people, giving the community just what it wants. 

The American people are a wasteful, extravagant people 
and their cities are no better than their public officials. Con- 
ditions will continue about the same in the future until the 
individual is changed. It is well nigh impossible to change 
the individual so long as he has a vote without abridgment 
on almost all questions for which the demagogue appeals 
with allurements of all kinds, some for and some against 
the voters' best interests. 

So the tendency of San Francisco is no exception to 
other American cities — gradually but nevertheless plunging 
into debt. Debts must be paid. When too large or too 
many they become burdens. When converted into bonds 
the day of payment is prolonged, shifted on the shoulders 
of future generations. Burdens depress and retard prog- 
ress, intellectual, social, moral and commercial. A debt 
just this side of a burden may be a blessing. When does it 
cease to be a debt and become a burden is a question never 
solved by governments of all kinds, and by some individuals. 
Both to the individual and cities in the end it means pov- 
erty and misery and distress. It means higher rents, self- 
denial of necessaries, higher cost of living all along the 
line. 

This city has a population of about 450,000 people. It 
has outstanding in bonds about $42,000,000. It is author- 
ized to issue almost $103,000,000. It wants to buy and own 

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things. It has purchased and now owns about twenty miles 
of its street railroad. It wants to own the Spring Valley 
Water works, valued at $35,000,000. It has been voted on 
several times. The private owners want to sell and the 
majority of the public officials want to buy. Some want to 
develop the supply from what is known as the Hetch Hetchy 
at an estimated cost of $75,000,000. It is claimed to be 
purer water, better than the Spring Valley, and better for 
the future wants and needs of the city. These disputes 
have created much litigation, with much voting, one grand 
round after round. Des Moines knows how it is. All of 
this has cost a pile of money. The amount is small com- 
pared with the future — and no results yet. Just scoring 
for position. No business but lots of experience. It helps 
the outs to get into public office. The ins get out. So it's 
one grand song and the people buy the tickets and listen to 
the discordant music and go away smiling. The American 
people as a whole never get tired, yet the road to get any 
where is long and winding and expensive. Why not make 
it straight? Less voting and more of the appointing power 
in the administration of public affairs will bring better 
results and are less expensive. We have too much democ- 
racy and with the initiative, referendum and recall it is 
becoming too complicated, a mist, a haze in the administra- 
tion of public affairs. So it seems to me. 

Take the apartment houses and hotels out of this city 
and you take the life of the city. In time it will be a great 
tourist point. At periods of the year it is necessary to have 
some heat, although many buildings are erected without 
any provision for heating. When the weather touches the 
frost line, which it does in the winter months, it of course 
is not so comfortable unless you have a little heat. This 
is provided for in the central part of the city. 

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BY LAND AND SEA 

A private company has a franchise to occupy the streets 
and sells heat to many of the hotels and apartment houses. 
It has three central heating plants covering quite a large 
portion of the city. These plants are connected with each 
other so that if one gets out of order consumers are not left 
helpless, for heat goes through their service pipes just the 
same while repairs are made. 

These pipes are laid in the ground and covered with 
asbestos, then they are surrounded with concrete. You see 
this eliminates to a low degree the loss of heat and the 
concrete also keeps moisture away from the pipes, thus 
preserving them and conserving the heat. The heat is 
generated by the use of crude oil ; thus you have no smoke, 
a clear sky and air from the ocean and the bay fit for the 
gods to breathe. 

Des Moines could do this and with pipes so laid in the 
ground and crude oil for fuel could become a fine residen- 
tial town, a pleasant place to live as well as die in. The 
city could well take up this subject, simple and practical, 
instead of trying to buy trouble and doubtful enterprises, 
such as the water company, street railway, gas and the 
other numerous schemes that mean nothing but political 
juggling and inefficiency and waste. This would be easily 
managed, not expensive to care for or operate after being 
properly installed. Brother Hanna and my good friend 
Myerly might give this a passing thought in connection with 
considering paving East Grand avenue to the fair grounds, 
a subject that is not quite twenty-five years old. 

Iowa is sending lots of people to this exposition. It has 
sent more visitors than any other eastern state, and is keep- 
ing up its record. This is because the people are so well off 
financially, and still some are unhappy. 

127 



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Len Harbach and his wife were here for a few days. 
Also Bert Maish. Mrs. Thompson of Dubuque, sister to 
Colonel Donahue of Hotel Colfax^, is at the St. Francis, 
enjoying the exposition. Ralph Bolton and his wife arrived 
this week. The eastern people are coming in large numbers 
now, no doubt, to escape the intense heat. The social life 
is looked after to entertain the visitors each week. The 
navy and army just gave a fine and successful ball. The 
boys and girls wore their best and had a smile that would 
not come off. Some engagements may follow, for the tango 
catches the old as well as the young, especially the old men. 
They love to tango or try to, and sometimes are forced to 
tango. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

WHEN this state was under the complete domination 
of Senator Stanford and the Southern Pacific rail- 
road the state was divided into two sections, the southern 
and the northern. Each section was given one United 
States senator which has continued to be the custom un- 
less present conditions change the division. 

Governor Johnson's political advancement has made 
many changes in the state and his ambitions have been 
kept in view with all his plans and reforms. He early 
espoused the progressive cause and reforms in legislation 
along the most progressive lines he labored to adopt and 
many have been adopted. This state has the initiative, 
referendum and recall and the last legislature at his dic- 
tation passed a law destructive of all party affiliations. This 
is now referred to the people under the referendum at an 
expense estimated to reach $700,000, and will be voted on 

128 



BY LAND AND SEA 

this coming October. Both the republicans and democrats 
are fighting it and many politicians are predicting its de- 
feat. Such a law should be defeated for it is not progress, 
and all its tendencies will be lower patriotism and hence 
citizenship for it destroys conscious responsibility of the 
individual voter. Legislation and governmental acts should 
aim to impress on the citizen individual responsibility, 
which in turn makes for efficiency and the initiative in the 
individual's private and public acts. 

Governor Johnson has been aspiring to the United 
States senate. By the manipulation of the progressives of 
this state it is now represented by Senator Perkins, a re- 
publican who has held this office for many years, and 
Senator Phelan, a democrat just starting on his term. The 
term of Mr. Perkins is about to expire and physically and 
financially he is about all in. The governor wants his 
place. But Senator Phelan and Governor Johnson live 
in San Francisco and will the southern section of the state 
stand for two senators from this city? Frank J. Heney 
who used to live here, thinks not so; he moved his law 
office to Los Angeles and is also a candidate for the office 
held by Mr. Perkins. The question must be settled at a 
state primary and Johnson is not as popular as he used to be 
and the defeat of his non-partisan law will not add to his 
strength. 

With this condition here of course Roosevelt held con- 
ferences both with Johnson and Heney here and in Los 
Angeles. He made it plain to them he would not be a can- 
didate for the presidency in 1916; that he wanted the re- 
publican party united so that its policies and principles 
would prevail, modified on progressive lines. 

To accomplish this he sought to keep his organization 
together, and California being the most progressive of 

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the states, he informed local leaders that he wanted Mr, 
Heney for the United States senate and Governor Johnson 
for president on the Republican ticket if possible, and under 
no circumstances for less than second place. This is 
the proposition talked of here to be presented to the next 
national Republican convention. If it works it clears up the 
situation in California and gives the progressives a feasible 
working basis to unite the factions of the Republican party 
and put up a solid front to the Democrats. 

Will it work? It will work with Senator Borah for 
second place, but never with Governor Johnson in my 
judgment. Johnson is too erratic. He is connected with 
too much visionary, impractical legislation. The conserva- 
tive east will not jump from the frying pan into the fire. 
The east would accept Borah because of his progressive 
conservatism, the least of two evils. 

Before Roosevelt arrived home some of his principal 
leaders in New York state deserted his party and openly 
joined the republican ranks.. This would interfere with 
his western scheme by dissipating his forces, so the press 
boys sought an interview promptly on his arrival in New 
York, in which he declared there would be no backward 
step. Promptly Mr. George W. Perkins, his right hand 
man, gathered less than thirty of the faithful in a meet- 
ing and resolved to maintain the party organization and 
have candidates for the different offices. As Mr. Perkins 
has the money this was a proper move on their part and 
looks all right on the surface. It keeps the other fellows 
guessing at any rate. What will happen next is the prob- 
lem. A few days later Senator Lodge, a school friend 
of Roosevelt, stated that the Republican party would be 
united in 1916, and present financial, commercial and po- 
litical conditions will make Senator Lodge's statement 

130 



BY LAND AND SEA 

come true. Without this war our country would be in a 
deplorable condition and Roosevelt is not going to be re- 
sponsible for its continuation for he is too capable and 
too patriotic to do this. He is for his country first, last 
and all the time, although sometimes right and sometimes 
wrong — to err is human. 

The State of Georgia has been here the past few 
days. Ex-Governor Slayton and his wife and Mr. Wood- 
ward, mayor of Atlanta, have been trying the Frank case 
in public. Slayton and his wife were shown many favors, 
as there are many wealthy Jews here, and this attention no 
doubt aroused the mayor, and in a public address he warned 
the ex-governor not to return to the state for a year, if 
then. He said 75 per cent of the state held Frank guilty, 
and he helped his old law partner out, who was Frank's 
attorney, and in doing so had violated all law and his 
oath of office. This whole unfortunate affair has subsided 
since and ex-Governor Slayton has dropped out of sight. 

Mr. George Kulms, wife and daughter are here doing 
honors to the Bankers' Life. Also Carl F. Kuehnle 
and family are here. He told me he was going to throw his 
hat in and run for governor. Iowa ought to have no trouble 
in getting a good governor. George Christian and his fam- 
ily have come and gone. 

Ex-President Taft arrives this week. He and his wife 
are going to be quite busy. A man's real worth is meas- 
ured by the people after he has lost his power and stands 
as an individual. Taft has been growing and getting 
larger since he left public office. The people listen to and 
think kindly of him. His influences are wholesome and 
good for the American people. 

Men are much the same everywhere when surrounded 
by the same conditions and similar temptations. Moral 

131 



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teachings diiFer in different ages and the teachings of later 
periods enable men to resist better in later periods than 
previous ones. That is all. Their wants and desires vary 
but little with each generation and remain much the same. 
With invention and improvements they are given a wider 
range from which to select, and their wants and desires 
increase in proportion. 

Money, the acquisition of the medium of exchange, has 
been the desire of all men as well as nations since com- 
merce began to unfold in the affairs of men. Commodities 
fluctuate up and down in value owing to its scarcity or 
abundance. The allies are now trying to reduce the price 
or value of the commodities they wish to buy by increasing 
the abundance of the medium of exchange into their own- 
ership. Individuals pursue the medium of exchange for the 
power and the pleasure it brings them during life, yet 
much of this is only vanity and vexation of spirit to the 
possessor. The pursuit of it, however, brings to many men 
all the pleasure they see in life. 

In 1896 Mr. Reed was cashier of the Second National 
bank of Richmond, Ind. Mr. Leeds was division superin- 
tendent of the Vandalia railroad at the same place. Judge 
Moore and his brother lived in Chicago. The two former 
men had been living quiet lives doing the work before 
them. Neither one had any money to speak of, but Mr. 
Leeds' wife, a Miss Garr, was regarded as rich by inheri- 
tance of wealth. The Moores were bankrupt to the amount 
of $3,500,000 with no assets, brought about largely from 
their speculation in the Diamond Match company. This was 
the financial condition of these four men in 1896. The 
Moores were restless, however, and wanted to restore their 
lost power and influence in the financial world. Every- 
one smiles on him who succeeds in doing something worth 

132 



BY LAND AND SEA 

while. The success may be in many lines, and not neces- 
sarily confined to the accumulation of money. 

These four men organized along about 1896 these four 
companies: The National Steel company. The American 
Tin Plate company. The American Sheet Steel company 
and The American Steel Hoop company. Combined they 
had a large capital, at least on paper, and became growing 
and influential industrial plants, some owing their prosperity 
to the McKinley tariff. 

Shortly afterwards J. P. Morgan began his efforts to 
organize the U. S. Steel corporation with an enormous 
capital, and time has demonstrated his success, for it is 
today one of the greatest organized industrial units in 
the world, employing about 175,000 men. 

Mr. Morgan recognized the successful efforts of the 
Moores, Reed and Leeds in their industrial organizations 
which stood in the way of his plans and purposes in the 
organization of the U. S. Steel corporation and determined 
that they must be eliminated. Negotiations were started 
which finally resulted in the purchase of all four, but not 
at the same time, and thus they became the property of 
the U. S. Steel corporation and the four men ceased to be 
industrial promoters and business men. 

But the success of their efforts has never been duplicated 
anywhere in the world since the beginning of time, in so 
short a period. They began in 1896 and in 1901; just five 
years afterwards, they sat around a table in an office in New 
York and divided their winnings of $100,000,000, not in 
securities, but cash. Think of it ! The start and the finish ! 
What a valuable idea to put into acion to bring about certain 
results ! It was a gamble, a speculation, that won. 

Their marvelous success here intoxicated them so they 
continued their pursuit after wealth. They cast a 

133 

10 



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longing glance into Iowa and took a fancy to the Chicago, 
Rock Island & Pacific railway. They went to the public 
market and bought it. They went after other railroads. 
They knew nothing about railroads or how to manage them. 
They obtained a great property in the Rock Island and since 
it has been in their control they changed one manager for 
another until they tried eight and now the courts manage' 
it through a receiver. They lost millions in their railroad 
schemes and gradually the properties vanished from their 
hands. Their dream was to market securities issued against 
the railroad properties to the public and the public failed 
to buy, hence their failure and individual loss. They won 
in this with their industrials and failed with their railroads. 
Now the question: Where is the loss and who pays it.^ 
Should industrials be regulated or not? Did the people 
lose anything with the railroad, or was the loss in the in- 
dustrials.^ One man's gain is another's loss. Now locate it. 
Mr. Leeds is dead. Mr. Reed is alive. One of the 
Moores is alive, but the other is dead, after living here in 
California, I am told, for years a physical wreck. Such is 
life — vanity and vexation of spirit. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

WR. CRANE, the actor, is here with his wife and 
• an old admirer and traveling companion, Mr. 
Williams of New York City. Mr. Crane often spends his 
summers in this city because of the cool nights the year 
round and pleasant days. He looks fine, always well 
groomed, a pleasant personality in every way and seventy 
years of age, and yet active on the stage. His friend, Mr. 
Williams, is a rich bachelor about the same age, and just 

134 



BY LAND AND SEA 

as young and frisky as Mr. Crane. The three travel 
together from place to place, Mr. Crane entertaining the 
people and his friend entertaining Mr. Crane. He is also 
quite pleasant and with nothing to do but look well and be 
agreeable to everybody. Mr. Crane is now playing his 
"New Henrietta" to full houses in a two or three weeks' 
stand in this city, beginning the season here instead of the 
east. 

Another actor who spends his summers in this city is 
David Warfield. Crane is a large man, while Warfield, 
who is a Jew, is small, possibly not weighing over 136 
pounds, but alert and active and genial, fifty-two years of 
age and married. 

His mother lives here with one daughter, David being 
the other child. She was very poor when her children were 
young and she struggled along as best she could to sup- 
port and keep her little family together in this city which 
has always been her home. 

When a lad David secured a position as usher in one 
of the theaters of this city and became so interested that 
in time he advanced himself from usher to that of actor, 
and today is one of the most successful and popular on 
the American stage. 

This took him in time to New York City, and with 
hard work and economy he has won success not only on 
the stage, but in the business world, his wealth being esti- 
mated at $2,000,000. He supports his mother and sister 
in this city in comfort, and to be with his mother for two 
months each summer, comes from New York City, his pres- 
ent home, where he lived his boyhood days. He has a 
wife in New York but no children. 

Now, he did not accumulate his wealth on the stage. 
His saving disposition brought him his good luck. His 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

early life and experiences ought to be a good lesson to 
all young men. Being poor he saved all he could and 
had begun to accumulate a little money. He found a tailor 
in New York who would make him a neat and well fitting 
suit of clothes for $30, all he felt he ought or could pay. 
Of course, the tailor was not getting rich off of David. One 
day the tailor had an opportimity of buying the right to 
a picture machine when the idea was first started. It con- 
sisted of a machine revolving pictures on the inside which 
you enjoyed by glancing through peepholes at so much a 
glance. It required $250 which the tailor did not possess, 
so he hunted up his friend, David, the actor, and asked him 
for a loan of this amount and David Warfield, after due 
consideration, advanced the money and became an owner 
of an interest in the peephole picture business. This part- 
nership with his poor tailor proved successful and made 
them both some money as it grew and was enlarged from 
the profits. 

The tailor afterwards became interested in the moving 
picture business, and Warfield continued his partner in 
this additional enterprise, however, never having invested 
more than the original $250. The tailor pursued the 
"movies" and Warfield pursued the footlights, and today 
the tailor is one of the prominent moving picture men of 
the country, has accumulated a large fortune, and War- 
field admitted he had received over $1,000,000 in profits 
from that original investment of $260 up to this time. This 
money he invested in real estate both in New York and 
San Francisco, and of course his fortune is only starting. 
Opportunities like this are coming to boys every day who 
do not dissipate and waste their time and money on foolish 
things, that is, keep their minds clear and alert and watch 
the drift of the times. 

136 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Mr. Gunst, the cigar man, started a cigar store near 
Warfield's theater, and Warfield would slip over to the 
store with the other ushers and sometimes they would get 
noisy. Gunst would then kick them out for he was poor 
and needed customers, not noisy boys. He afterwards en- 
tered politics, became police commissioner, opened cigar 
stores all over San Francisco, bought and improved real 
estate and is now a millionaire also. Warfield and Gunst 
today are bosom friends and they are frequently seen to- 
gether at the St. Francis hotel. Mr. Gunst is a cripple, 
but is credited with excellent judgment on investments and 
Warfield seeks his advice. Time does bring many changes 
both with people and material things. Fortunes are made 
and lost every day, and why.'' After all nothing beats the 
simple life with health and simple pleasures that always 
please. 

John Cavanagh and wife are here taking in the expo- 
sition and seeing the sights of the city. Mr. E. T. Meredith 
has arrived and will miss nothing of interest to him. With 
energy he will cover much and in a short space of time. 
Hundreds of bankers from all over the country are here this 
week and they will enjoy their visit because the weather 
is fine and with time the exposition buildings and grounds 
are becoming more beautiful each week. The flowers and 
plants are taking on a charm that is pleasing, with the 
softness and delicate coloring of the leaves, which no 
painter can imitate and no architect execute. Nature alone 
is supreme in such work. 



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San Francisco, Cal. 

AMONG all the states of the United States, California 
is known among travelers as the great state of the 
"est." As you approach its borders and get acquainted with 
its boosters, you will then appreciate what "est" means. 
In plain English it is the superlative degree and you get 
it from all angles. The inhabitants will tell you that this 
state has the longest coast line of any state in the union; 
it has the finest sunsets of any section of the country; it 
has the longest range of mountains ; it has the largest num- 
ber of peaks in that range of mountains; it has the high- 
est mountains in the world; it has the finest climate to be 
foimd anywhere on earth; it produces the finest oranges 
and fruits to be found anywhere in the world; it has the 
handsomest women in the world; the finest dressed men 
and women to be found anywhere; it has the largest and 
finest variety of flowers grovtm anywhere in the world; it 
has the largest trees to be found anywhere on the globe, 
and so on everything is the finest, longest, biggest, grand- 
est and best ever. Why should a person from Missouri 
say, "Show me.''" They have said it so often in season 
and out of season. Why not smile and let it go at that.'' 

Strange as it may seem, this city has been protecting 
for years lotteries of the vilest kind. Yet there are national, 
state and city laws prohibiting the operation of lotteries, 
and even landlords renting rooms for such purposes, yet 
they operate and prosper. How is it done ? They are very 
careful not to use the United States mails, hence the national 
laws do not apply. The drawings and names of winners 
are printed in the newspapers, but in special editions and 
are distributed by carriers and newsboys, so only state 
and city laws are violated. These laws make the business 



138 



BY LAND AND SEA 

a criminal one, and the ownei', landlords and operators 
criminals, yet they exist and prosper. Why? Because 
public officials of the state and city fail to do the duty they 
owe to the public. 

They are silent because they have entered politics, and 
are powerful. There are fourteen different lottery com- 
panies in the city of San Francisco, the largest and wealth- 
iest being the M. & F. company. This company has ac- 
cumulated property said to be worth $5,000,000. It has a 
drawing every week, one prize dazzling in the air being 
for $20,000, always sought and seldom caught. It has 
agents organized far and near selling tickets. The 3,000 
saloons in this city act as agents. Hundreds of cigar stores 
also act as agents. Hundreds of men and women solicit 
on the streets, in places of business, in restaurants, kitch- 
ens, everywhere. The result is the middle and lower classes 
are robbed. Twenty per cent commission to agents makes 
them active. The grand prize of $20,000 makes people 
excited. The M. & F. does a business of over $4,000,000 
a year largely with clerks, laborers, sports and people who 
cannot afford to part with the money however small. The 
consequences are suicides, embezzlements, thefts, holdups 
and pilfering of all kinds, and yet they are permitted to 
flourish, and have for years. How can you have honest 
public officials or honest city government when the people 
are honeycombed with this gambling spirit of chance, ever 
alluring the individual to take the last chance? The strength 
and perpetuity of all our governments, whether national, 
state or municipal, rests upon the enforcement of all laws 
with quickness and precision. Delays in the enforcement of 
laws are as dangerous as no enforcement, for all in the 
end engender contempt for laws and the powers back of 
laws — governments. 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Good citizens should support public officials in the en- 
forcement of laws, thus protecting themselves in their lib- 
erties, person and property rights. This will confirm good 
laws and eliminate bad laws and will strengthen the gov- 
ernment under which the individual lives. The individual 
should not set himself up as a judge to enforce the ones 
he likes and violate the ones he dislikes. Your neighbor 
may think otherwise and your joint efforts only lead to 
confusion. Laws regularly enacted by properly consti- 
tuted authorities should be respected by all individuals as 
the law of the land, and if this were so how happy we all 
would be. We could leave our doors unlocked, sleep 
soundly and bless the Lord for all the good things given 
us, including our neighbor's dog barking late at night, 
for this would make us humble in spirit and patient with 
the faults of others, and we could congratulate ourselves 
that we are not like other people. Blessed be the Lord for 
giving us the power to see others as they should see them- 
selves with the gift to tell them if they make us mad. 

The weather is still fine here but the attendance at the 
exposition is falling off some as it nears the end. Some 
Iowa people came in this week smiling and happy. There 
were R. A. Crawford and wife of the Valley National bank, 
Lafe Young, Sr., fat and in good spirits and at his ease. 
He did say that politically things were getting a little 
complicated in Iowa and he hoped Governor Clarke would 
run again and clear up the situation. His son Harry is with 
him. Frank L. Miner, president of the Bankers' Accident 
Insurance company, is here enjoying himself, also Charles 
A. Rawson with his family and G. I. Vincent and wife. 
Henry Nollen is here alone, as his family did not come. 
Henry was trying to see everything in a short space 
of time and he has the faculty of doing this when he tries. 

140 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Henry ought to realize by this time it is not well to be 
alone. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

YOU know California has about 1,000 miles of coast 
line facing on the Pacific ocean, the largest and 
deepest of all the oceans. Many storms spring up on 
the ocean the same as on the land, and in either case, 
the path traveled is shown by the destruction of the ob- 
jects found in the way. 

So in this state you will find a large number of financial, 
social, moral and intellectual shipwrecks. The climate and 
the beautiful scenery have caused more shipwrecks here 
than you will find in any other state. The calamity is 
just as great wherever it may be, but you do not feel it 
so keenly here, in fact, the showers, when they occur, 
the golden poppies and golden sunsets will make you smile. 
Smiling is a tonic and has the same eifect on humanity 
wherever found. It brings hope to the individual and 
makes him feel that he is worth a million if he hasn't a 
cent in his pocket and none in the bank. "Smile and the 
world smiles with you. Weep and you weep alone." This 
is true always, and here is where California has the ad- 
vantage of us all. It is hard to smile when there is no coal 
in the bin and no potatoes in the oven and the weather 
30 degrees below zero. There is nothing doing; a 
preacher can pray under such circumstances but the average 
individual has not the time to wait. His feelings are 
not tuned to the occasion. 

Fleas know this, so California has them by the millions. 
They are very handsome and quite industrious with the 

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tourists. The native sons and daughters are immune from 
their attacks and go along singing like the milkmaid of 
olden times. The Chinese, Japs, Germans, Austrians, 
Italians, in fact all foreigners, and the fleas are the only 
creatures who work so far as I can observe. All others 
live on their wits, looking for tourists too. But the fleas 
work overtime. They get busy in the day time and you 
are likely to have one or more, most likely more, as bed- 
fellows at night. Although you are paying the room rent, 
it is not wise to lose your temper. This never pays any- 
where on any occasion. Just get up and shake your bed 
down and jump into a tub of water and you may enjoy the 
pleasures of heaven for the balance of the night. For- 
get about it for the sunshine and flowers will make you smile 
next morning before a good hot breakfast, each day be- 
ginning and closing the same, expecting better times to- 
morrow. 

These fleas have some peculiar characteristics. They 
are no respecters of persons. The other day a colored 
man called at a drug store and asked for 5 cents' worth of 
insect powder to poison a million of fleas that had staked 
out claims on the various parts of his habitation. The drug- 
gist was somewhat indignant at his customer and replied 
with some feeling that he would not go to the expense and 
trouble of tying up a 5 cent package of insect powder. 
The colored man replied: "Sah, I was not goin' to ask 
you to do that. I only wanted you to shake the powder 
down my back." 

Now this only illustrates the way San Francisco does 
business today. It has the ways of twenty or thirty 
years ago. "It pays off when the boat comes in." It 
has no use for the penny or the nickel. The 10 cent piece 
is the limit and it has not yet the time and patience for 

142 



BY LAND AND SEA 

small things. Display of clothes and wealth and a good 
time in the old town tonight is still her motto. It is a 
city of hotels and apartment houses. They exist every- 
where. It is not a city of homes. The temperature changes 
20 to 30 degrees a day. You never work, hence you never 
perspire and you naturally take on flesh — get fat. It has 
many beautiful women. The outdoor life agrees with 
them and they look gay and healthy and strong. They 
dress well, and so do the men. The great majority play 
for appearances. The Yankees from the east have a bag 
at the knees, but they have the coin. They like to help 
those who look prosperous. This is so all over the world. 
The boys and girls out here know this and they have played 
the game well up to date. Times, however, are changing 
and conditions are not good at the present time. Fifty 
per cent of the fruit will not be gathered this year be- 
cause there is no market for it. It will rot in the fields. 
This is hard on the fruit growers. Many will suffer and 
unemployed labor will suffer, too. Think of grapes selling 
for five dollars a ton! Think a minute the space a ton of 
grapes will occupy, the labor required to produce the same, 
the capital required and the money tied up in the land. 
They are giving them away, because it would mean a loss to 
pick them. It is so with other fruits. California needs 
protection and needs markets. The Iowa man who has a 
farm had better listen to the music of the pigs and the 
crowing of the rooster even at 4 o'clock in the morning. 
"Don't leave the farm, boys." It pays in the long run. 
Work is the same everywhere, and there is no success any- 
where without work. But let your work be in those things 
and in those places where the finished product of your 
toil finds a good, compensatory market. There is no easy 
road to a good living or to wealth. Guard well the efforts 

143 



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of your toil and live long and be happy, or at least try to 
be whether much or little. 



San Francisco, Cal. 

IT IS claimed that representatives from every commu- 
nity in the vt^orld of any consequence are residents of 
this city and I have no reason to doubt it. Some countries 
are largely represented, especially Italians, Germans, Eng- 
lish and Russians. It is amusing to watch these four 
nationalities in their conduct towards each other. They 
are very guarded in their conversations, watchful and 
suspicious. It is quite perceptible at times the deep 
hatred one has for the other but it is by conduct and actions 
rather than by words. 

I have a good old German friend who is a Jew. There 
are two Belgian women at the hotel, very nice appearing 
and well behaved. He simply cannot tolerate them. If 
they occupy seats near him he moves away. He came 
from Germany when a boy and is an American citizen, 
now seventy-six years of age. You would think he had 
been thoroughly absorbed in this long period of time but 
he is not by a long ways, yet in every other way he is a 
charming old man, a bachelor, with wholesome thoughts 
toward all mankind, except for this war. He has six 
nephews living in Germany, three of whom are at the 
front. The English he hates as badly, and many live 
here, some retired and others in business. He says the 
Germans are true to this country because they have become 
citizens while the English refuse or have refused to become 
citizens, with few exceptions, and remain the subjects of 
King George. Unfortunately this is a fact here. They 

144 



BY LAND AND SEA 

live and enjoy our country, go into business, accumu- 
late wealth and refuse to become one of us, to assume the 
burdens of war as well as the pleasures of peace. Aliens 
who do this ought to pay something for the privilege be- 
yond regular taxes. They are protected not only by this 
government, but by the English government in all their 
rights. 

I have a lady friend who has a niece in Germany, a 
niece in Scotland and a nephew in Ireland. She gets let- 
ters from all, and her nephew has just returned to Ireland 
from a visit with her. The two nieces are loyal to their 
adopted countries and the nephew is for King George. My 
friend is compelled to be somewhat diplomatic in her cor- 
respondence beyond the work of the censors, to keep peace 
in the different families. The nephew told her while here 
that things were dreadful in Ireland. Flour had gone up 
to seventeen dollars a barrel and other things in propor- 
tion. This is indeed a dreadful statement on living condi- 
tions which cannot continue for a long period of time. Pro- 
hibitive prices in foodstuffs create empty stomachs, and 
empty stomachs produce riots. Fighting after all may not 
stop the war, a war startling in all its phases in the destruc- 
tion of life and property, and the regular, natural develop- 
ment and progress of the world. After all some things 
must be and one of them is war. A struggle among nations 
for bread and butter to feed their subjects seeking a liveli- 
hood and a living is in fact the pursuit of nearly all man- 
kind, and has been from the beginning of time and will 
continue until the end. We all expect to be rewarded for 
our efforts whatever may be the line. Failure brings dis- 
couragement. 

Now, in California the raising of all kinds of foods, 
including small berries, etc., is extensive and has been 

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brought to the highest state of perfection. Their organiza- 
tion for selling and distribution are almost perfect. Their 
machinery and tools for the raising and handling of fruits 
are the best that can be procured. With all these the cost 
of production has been reduced to a minimum. Yet, with 
them all, 50 per cent of the fruit will never be gathered 
this year because there are not enough markets to absorb 
the quantity raised. This enormous loss will fall on the 
growers. The owner of one of the largest peach orchards 
in the Santa Clara valley will not pick any of his peaches 
because of the expense and no market. The price is so low 
that canning them would entail a loss. And so it is with 
grapes. The Stanford university trustees are going to dig 
up 1,800 acres of wine grapes and put the land into alfalfa, 
thus enlarging the production of dairy products. They 
have concluded that grapes are a losing proposition, espe- 
cially when they are now selling as low as five dollars a 
ton. And again, this state will vote in 1916 on the ques- 
tion of prohibition. Should this become the law of the 
state, millions of dollars thus invested would be a total 
loss, and San Francisco, and many other cities of the state, 
in social life would be like a country churchyard. The 
women of this state have a right to vote, and be not sur- 
prised if this condition will exist in the near future. This 
city would suffer much financially. Its growth is based 
largely on these attractions, and its future prosperity would 
be materially retarded. 

With many the fruits and wines are a losing propo- 
sition, yet other things have been prospering much, A few 
years ago a German, having a small amount of money, 
located about ten miles out of San Francisco, began raising 
ducks. He went in the market and bought duck eggs and 
hatched them in incubators. His business grew and he 

146 



BY LAND AND SEA 

enlarged it to considerable proportions so that now he ships 
ducks to all points in California, and has become a mil- 
lionaire. Ducks are more profitable than chickens because 
they eat no more than chickens, are popular on the table 
and can be made ready for the market in three montlis. 
Here is something for young men and women who can find 
nothing to do to investigate. Young ducks bring good money 
at hotels and restaurants and families will pay good money 
for a fine young duck. Sometimes fortunes are made from 
little things if popular and necessary and properly man- 
aged. However, the things that seem to prosper best in 
this state are beans, walnuts and olives. Olive oil and 
canned olives go all over the world and with a universal 
demand prices are more reasonable and stable. All the 
fruits for the market are boxed and arranged in a most 
pleasing way. The dried fruits, when prepared for the 
market, are as beautiful as photographs. The growers 
know how to do things. Yet with all these efforts, our pub- 
lic oflScials are really criminal in not only creating new 
markets, but ruining those we have, and it comes largely 
from the legislative branches of state and national govern- 
ments. This whole coast is suffering much from the unfor- 
tunate Wilson tariff law now on the statute books, which 
is like a big black cloud threatening from above, with no 
ray of sunshine to cheer them on to better things. 



San Francisco, Cal., July 18, 1915.. 

BRYAN came and is still here. When he arrived and 
entered the hotel lobby of the St. Francis, it was full. 
So was the lounge room and the ladies waiting room, and 
all arose to get a look at the late premier. The celebra- 

U7 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

tion was to be on the fair grounds the 6th, and he was to 
be the orator of the day. The day was all that could be 
expected as to climate — ideal in temperature, and the 
attendance was nearly 200,000, the second largest day of 
the exposition. 

A platform was erected in one of the courts and thou- 
sands crowded around to hear the "Boy Orator of the 
Platte." Women were carried away in a fainting condition 
and the performance went on just the same with Bryan 
apparently in his happiest mood. And why this crowd 
and demonstration? 

Here is a man defeated three times for president, dic- 
tated the nomination of the present holder of that distin- 
guished office and aided much towards his election, yet the 
people are more interested in this man and in what he says 
than ever, not withstanding the almost universal criticisms 
of the press at the time of his resignation and the compli- 
cated problems pending and to be solved by the office he 
held. 

That the people in large numbers are interested, there 
can be no question; that politicians and Democratic clubs 
play shy of him makes no diflference for the masses know 
him and want to hear him. 

To me the secret is in his voice, which is very melodious 
and penetrating, and his methods of thinking and utterances 
being clothed in words of a semi-religious character. 

We must admit that planted in the human breast there 
is a desire to feel and know God, spiritually or otherwise, 
at least some time during an earthly existence. Even the 
Indian groping in darkness in his crude way longs to 
feel and know something of the Great Spirit from above. 
So Bryan in all his addresses alludes to Biblical precepts 
and illustrations to drive home his economic, social and 

148 



BY LAND AND SEA 

political truths, and delivering them in his melodious voice, 
wins and impresses his audiences. The people are eager 
to hear the thoughts of the Divine and their application to 
the daily routine of life. 

To me this is the secret of Bryan's hold on the people; 
whether his interpretations and applications are practical 
or theoretical, they do not analyze or stop to question. 

He is a good politician. He saw that Wilson would be 
renominated, was entitled to it, but would fail of election. 
He resigned because he did not want to be a pallbearer at 
the funeral and to quit while it was a going concern would 
restore him high and dry as the most popular lecturer in 
the United States, and he acted wisely so far as he was 
personally concerned. Time will demonstrate the wisdom 
of his action. 

On the other hand, Roosevelt is coming later, and he 
has a following not so large as Bryan, and opposite in 
almost every respect. He is no speaker, and is unable to 
sway the masses by the power of oratory. He touches the 
masses in another way. The masses admire action, a man 
who does things and can do things. Roosevelt is a man 
of force and action. He has been able to convince the peo- 
ple that he works for them out of the loving kindness of 
his heart. They believe in him and that he is honest. They 
follow him blindly as a leader. He is more practical 
than Bryan. He is the business man and Bryan is the 
preacher, the evangelist. So far as the public knows, both 
men live clean lives. They are not hypocrites, but live 
the lives they urge others to live. Much of the secret of 
their power lies in this alone. They both must be reckoned 
with in 1916, and can do either much harm or much good 
by error of judgment or conduct with the progress and wel- 
fare of the people of the United States. 

149 

11 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The weather has been ideal for the f air, nice and cool, 
and the attendance is increasing some. July and August 
will be fine months to visit the exposition. 

Governor Clark duly honored Iowa day. The governor 
made fine addresses, made a good impression and acquitted 
himself with credit to himself and the State. His daughter 
sang beautifully. Take it all in all, Iowa should be pleased 
even with the governor's staff. I have seen many such 
functions pulled ofi" here by colonels, majors, etc., for sev- 
eral states by men who have never smelt powder. When 
they line up with clean clothes covered with gold braid, 
they look and act like the man all dressed up, with cane, 
gloves, silk hat — and no place to go. However, our boys did 
well and manifested a humble spirit. 

Dr. Priestley, his wife and two grandsons were here,» 
all looking fine and happy. Doctor said he was teaching 
the boys how to travel. They are bright looking lads. They 
are going home by way of Panama canal, reaching Des 
Moines by August 1st. Senator Charles Hewitt, wife and 
daughter are here looking fine and happy. The senator 
looks so fine I hardly knew him. Herman Younker and his 
wife from New York are also here, looking happy and 
contented. Alf. Hammer and wife. Miss Nash and lady 
friend are here. Mr. Haskell of Cedar Rapids is the youth- 
ful lad of them all and I am told would not object to being 
governor of Iowa. 

Many Iowa people are coming now, but I see only those 
who drop into the hotel lobby. They come to see the fair, 
which is now complete and worth while to visit. Some 
foreign exhibits were delayed by the war, but are now in 
place. 



160 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Monterey, Cal. 

THIS city is situated 126 miles south of San Francisco 
and is one of the oldest towns in the state, hence rich 
in local and national history because of the contest with 
Mexico. 

You feel more secure here than you do in San Francisco. 
Seldom a month passes that you do not feel the instability 
of the earth beneath you ; because of the trembling you feel 
and see the eflfect of its shaking in many ways. Earth- 
quakes are too frequent to be pleasant. It may be the peo- 
ple there must have the gay life you see all around you to 
forget the danger they are constantly in. Many of them 
are influenced by this fear to my certain knowledge. The 
one that did so much damage in 1906 was the most severe 
one since 1868. All are familiar with the one in 1906. A 
friend of mine was occupying a room on the third floor of 
one of the leading hotels of that city on the night of the 
quake. He had a steamer trunk next to the wall at the foot 
of his bed. When it was over his trunk had been thrown to 
the other side of the room. All pictures were thrown to 
the floor and glasses were broken. He told me he covered 
up his head and prayed that he might be killed outright 
rather than suflFer pain by lingering. Another guest was 
on the twelfth floor at the same hotel and at the same 
time. He declared that the top of the building swung back 
and forth twelve to fifteen feet, yet this building stood and 
shows a crack on one side from top to bottom. 

Four months afterwards, and when the city was being 
rebuilt with great rapidity, the Pacific building was nearing 
the top, a severe quake came and this building is out of 
plumb two inches. A year afterwards a severe one came 
while Mr. Shillings was building a fine residence near Red- 
wood, about thirty-five miles south. His chauff'eur, just 

151 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

from the east, was standing by the automobile in the drive- 
way waiting for the family when the earth began to tango 
around him and he declares the earth opened, the machine 
dropped in, then the earth closed and the machine was 
forced out again. These stories are from the inhabitants 
and are many and some of them are startling. The quake 
on Oct. 9 was severe enough to frighten the people and two 
women at the theater fainted, because the buildings shook 
and doors rattled. 

So, for a wicked man like myself not yet ready or pre- 
pared, I would rather enjoy the peace and contentment of 
this city where the people go to bed early and get up early. 
They seem to be law abiding and God fearing, and I enj oy 
being surrounded by such people to the extent of ten or 
more. It gives me a more restful spirit than to have my bed 
shake — which I have experienced. 

Monterey is delightfully situated on a fine bay and with 
proper improvements would in time be a profitable shipping 
point. Only a short distance the ocean is said to be six 
thousand feet deep. The waves are strong and severe at 
times and the city has been working for years to have the 
government build a breakwater to protect the ships in the 
harbor. They claim the produce from eleven millions of 
acres could be sent from this harbor at 25 per cent less 
than now charged. It would open up on the Santa Clara 
and San Joaquin valleys, which are now controlled by the 
Southern Pacific system. These are rich valleys, in fact, 
the most productive of any in the state. Alfalfa grows 
here extensively, making this section profitable in the rais- 
ing of cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, besides fruits and 
vegetables in large quantities. This is all done by irriga- 
tion as elsewhere in the state. And, too, conditions here 
are the same as elsewhere in the state, in the lack of good, 

152 



BY LAND AND SEA 

convenient markets. The bay is twenty-two miles wide at 
the mouth. It is one of the three natural harbors on the 
California coast. 

Here is where Father Serra landed in 1770 and began 
his great work in founding the numerous missions along 
most of the coast, and the moral effect of this good man's 
work and influences are with the people to this day. Vis- 
ciano arrived at the same place in 1602. Thus the natives 
came in contact with two good souls who began this early to 
help the ignorant to better their condition and aspire to 
better and nobler things. 

The two missions founded here were San Carlos de 
Monterey and San Carlos del Carmelo in which latter, in 
peace and loved and honored by all, rests the remains of 
Father Serra, the founder of all the missions of California. 
This was the period of time when Spain governed this 
land. It afterwards passed into the control of Mexico and 
in 1846 became the property of the United States through 
the war with Mexico. Many Spanish and Mexicans still 
reside here, some of them old and distinguished families, 
but mild and calm since the war with Spain. 

Under the Spanish rule a custom house was erected 
here, which passed into the hands and the use of Mexico, 
and then into the hands of the United States. Colton hall, 
a public meeting place during all this period, still stands, 
and here the constitution of California was framed and 
adopted, California being admitted into the union in 1850. 
Robert Louis Stevenson started his literary career here, 
married Mrs. Osborne and built a house and lived in it. It 
still stands. He was very poor in those days but in time 
became prosperous as he became better known. The first 
and only American consul, Thomas O. Larkin, was located 
here. Here is where General H. W. Halleck established 

158 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

his headquarters in the contest with Mexico. With the 
assistance of Mr. Larkin these two men laid the founda- 
tion to win against Mexico almost without the loss of blood. 
The first theater in California was built here. Jennie Lind 
sang in this far western building first and the theater still 
stands showing its age and usage. General W. T. Sherman, 
then a lieutenant, had his location here. It is said of him 
that he made the acquaintance of a beautiful Spanish girl 
and found pleasure in her company. On one occasion it is 
said he planted a rose bush at the front gate saying, when 
it grew up and brought forth roses he would return and take 
her for his bride. Later he went east, married and the 
beautiful Spanish girl was forgotten or overlooked. Be 
this as it may, over the gate in profusion bloom many roses 
from that rosebush, and within the little cottage is that 
Spanish girl grown old and gray, alone, dreaming no doubt 
of the past and hoping for the future. How sad ! Yet after 
all, wishes denied and plans frustrated cause the woimded 
heart to bleed for the time being only, later to unfold into 
a beautiful rose, a beautiful life, going about serenely, 
gently smiling, doing good and making others happy. 

The principal industry today is fishing. Large quanti- 
ties are shipped to San Francisco, and two canneries are 
in operation with a pay roll of half a million a year. 

The climate is so much more even and temperate that 
many wealthy San Francisco people reside here in summer 
homes, there being a good automobile road to the city in 
which they have their business. 

The city is surrounded by many charming places and 
excellent drives, only a short distance from Carmel-by-the- 
Sea, where poets, novelists, dramatists and literary people 
of all kinds are trying to make a haven of rest surrounded 



154 



BY LAND AND SEA 

by sympathizing spirits who feel, see £ind know the heart 
of a comrade — a bond of union after all. 



Santa Barbara, Col. 

THIS city has a population of about 15,000 people, and 
is located about 375 miles south of San Francisco, 
and north of Los Angeles about 100 miles. It is well 
located near the mountains and close to the ocean, thus 
possessing a fine beach for bathing and other water sports. 
The state of California is very mountainous and hilly. 
Its entire length is about 1,000 miles and its average width, 
about 400 miles, with valleys dotted between, some pos- 
sessing rivers and others not. The seasons are not divided 
into cold and warm, but wet and dry, the wet being the 
winter months and the dry the summer months. Hence irri- 
gation is essential for all crops in all parts of the state 
except fall wheat, which the winter rains permit to mature 
without this extra expense on production. It is very hot in 
most of the valleys, the temperature going as high as 120 
degrees. Water, being very valuable, is not wasted, but used 
wholly for vegetation and beautifying the lawns. The public 
highways unimproved become fearful to travel because of 
the dust, often several inches deep. Vehicles passing along 
with some speed will cause a cloud of dust to arise extend- 
ing back for almost a mile. With the heat and dust this 
is not pleasant to contemplate, but there is no escape except 
to the mountains and places like this city near the seashore. 
The water for irrigation is obtained from melting snows 
in the mountains and from wells. This all costs money, 
and must be added to the cost of production. 



156 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The people here are of two classes, small trades peo- 
ple and laborers and the retired rich. It is purely a resi- 
dential town, and the business is confined to small necessi- 
ties, the business activity reminding you of the stir existing 
in the atmosphere on a hot day. 

There are many hotels, of all sizes and shapes, includ- 
ing boarding houses, to meet the wants and requirements 
of all classes of people, from a few dollars per week up to 
ten dollars a day, the latter designed and built for those 
desiring exclusiveness, as if exclusiveness is possible when 
measured by dollars and cents. However, many deluded 
people so regard this as the correct standard, and a fool and 
his money soon part — at least out here. 

The oldest hotel is the Potter, built some thirty years 
ago, yet it is attractive and a popular place for social func- 
tions, being surrounded by very beautiful grounds and 
located near the sea. 

About twenty-five or thirty years ago, through the influ- 
ence and help of the railroads, a series of large hotels were 
erected along the coast to accommodate eastern travel, but 
the building up of interior cities and the appearance of the 
automobile have put nearly all these large, fine hotels in 
bad shape — a losing financial proposition. In fact, this is 
true all over the country because the people are not living 
in hotels for days and weeks at a time, but out doors, spend- 
ing their money on tires and punctures, and not at the big, 
fine hotels for six dollars a day and up, and mostly up. 
And why not? It is better for the people in every way. 

The rich people of different sizes and shapes, mostly 
shapes, have built up near the mountains fine homes costing 
from a few thousand dollars up towards a million. They 
call the place Montecito. It is four and one-half miles 
long and about three miles wide. They have laid out beau- 

166 



BY LAND AND SEA 

tiful drives, winding and picturesque, lined with palm trees, 
shrubbery and flowers, making the place a dream of nature, 
where troubles and cares should never enter — but no doubt 
they are there just the same good and plenty. There 
is no peace on earth except to those who lead simple lives, 
go to bed early, get up early and work in the garden and 
start an appetite for good, wholesome cooked beans for the 
old-fashioned dinner hour, 12 o'clock noon. 

Judge Moore, of Rock Island railroad fame, lives here 
in a magnificent home on thirty acres surrounded by a stone 
wall, hidden from the world. He is not alone. There are 
others and many. The climate is ideal, the scenery restful 
and pleasing. It is a delightful place to spend your days if 
you have the money. 

This valley is rich and a great place to raise beans. 
There are miles of beans as far as you can see, the best 
and cheapest food produced for a poor man and his family. 
They are produced here at a profit. The poor should know 
more about the use and economy of foods that are cheap, 
and beans are the best on earth. 

This valley is also great for sugar beets. Tons and tons 
of sugar are produced here from sugar beets which the 
Wilson tariff will destroy if the law goes into effect next 
July. It is a shame to destroy a great industry like this 
and place us at the mercy of foreign countries, and this 
war in many ways has already shown the weakness of such 
a position as to any necessity. This should be changed at 
the next session of congress. This state needs this industry 
and all the others. An important section of the United 
States, she has to give employment to her surplus popula- 
tion. Give the people work and more work and you make 
them happy and contented. 



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Ocean Park, Cal. 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON did not establish a 
home at this place^ but I found he did establish an- 
other home in California at Santa Barbara, making three 
in all. He must have been testing out the climate, for he 
died owning ten acres upon which is located a large two- 
story dwelling which is occupied by one of the heirs, a Mr. 
Osborne, yet he left all and located in the Island of Samoa, 
where he died leaving an estate of about one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, a remarkable thing for a literary 
man to do. 

I came here with a fine new black bathing suit, in due 
regulation and form, to enjoy as best I could a new sport 
to me, bathing in the sea. As I looked out into the distance 
and saw huge breakers coming in, one closely following the 
other, I paused and repeated, "Break! Break! Break! 
on thy cold gray stones, O sea. Would that my tongue 
could utter, the thoughts that arise in me." But I pushed 
on and on in an effort to submerge that part of my body 
exposed for the first time to the elements, a situation I had 
never before experienced. You have such a queer feeling 
until you get wet. I went out too far, not knowing the 
peculiar actions of what they call the undertow, which per- 
sists in keeping you in and giving you all you want. The 
result was I went down and out. When I recovered and 
gained my feet I discovered a woman at my side, smiling 
and offering me any assistance I needed. This I enjoyed 
so much. She weighed about three hundred pounds and 
inspired my confidence in her at once. She was dressed 
queerly, too. She wore no stockings and her supports were 
something to admire, especially when you are in trouble, 
or might be, and need help. The longer you looked at 
them the bigger they got and the more confidence you had. 

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BY LAND AND SEA 

She afterwards started out for deep water and swam like 
a duck, and I did admire her so much — as a swimmer on 
the waves of the sea, for when a larger breaker came in 
she floated on the top crest or dived underneath and arose 
beyond, happy and confident. I remained near the shore, 
just to be safe. 

I did make one wish. I wished for my friend Myerly 
and Brother Hanna to be with me and that I might be per- 
mitted to lead them both out for the full effect of the under- 
tow and thus make them humble and modest before God 
and men. I am told Brother Hanna wants to be lieutenant 
governor and my good friend Myerly wants to be mayor. 
I admire the courage of these two men. Nothing like it 
since Adam and Eve made us wanderers. If such occurs 
I pity Des Moines and would suggest the citizens holding 
weekly prayer meetings until the danger is passed. I be- 
lieve the Lord still visits that city and will kindly hear sup- 
plications offered in good faith. An inspection of the 
streets ought to inspire the citizens to ask for relief and 
they would be fully j ustified in doing so. 

There are fourteen beaches within sixteen to twenty-five 
miles from Los Angeles and most of them are good. Hotels, 
cottages and rooms are numerous and rates are reasonable. 
Some are managed more conservatively than others. Santa 
Monica is one of the oldest, containing many fine residences, 
with good streets and beautiful drives. Long Beach is the 
finest of them all. Many Iowa people reside here, having 
bought or built good homes. It is dry and the people accuse 
the Iowa people of forcing it on the town. I was, riding 
around and the chauffeur remarked that the rubes were 
running the town. I asked where they were from and he 
replied from Iowa. I kept quiet. While passing a park 
he said the leaders were over there now pitching horseshoes. 

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I remarked that they were not bad looking fellows and he 
said they were there daily. They were investigated a short 
time ago as to their property interests and they were found 
to be worth a little over three millions. I told him I was 
not surprised. 

The free beach is Venice and it is free in every way. 
They run all kinds of games — dice, paddles, tricks and 
schemes of all kinds. They raffle off turkeys, chickens, 
meat, flour and foods and trinkets of all kinds. Rooms rent 
by the hour, day, week or month, and are open for business 
day or night. Wholesale and retail liquors of all kinds are 
sold and saloons seem to do a fair business. Some of the 
restaurants are good. Nat Goodwin has disposed of his 
interests, claiming it a financial failure. His prices were 
high and hard times on the coast no doubt affected his 
receipts for the people have not had the money to waste. 

Movies, going through the clouds, etc., all appeal to 
the young and restless at night. In the afternoons the 
bathing suits, short above and below, are the popular at- 
tractions. Women with corns, ingrowing toe nails, and pos- 
sibly some modesty, wear stockings, while the others do not. 
Indeed, it is interesting to the novice or the rube to see the 
varied forms, colors and sizes of the other fellow, the come- 
liness of the one and the concealment of the other. 
Bathing in the sea is great sport, and here it is the year 
round, and I want to do it some more, and again. I like it. 

Will Tone and his wife are here on their way home 
from San Francisco, and Geo. G. Wright and wife are on 
their way there. H. M. Patton also. Dr. Lawrence is on 
his way back also. 

Dec. 5, and it will be a thing of the past, and its beauty 
and brightness wiU pass into a dream long to be remem- 

160 



BY LAND AND SEA 

bered by those who took the time to visit it, which was worth 
the trip. 



Pasadena, Cal. 

THIS is a beautiful town situated about eight miles from 
Los Angeles to the north, thus placing it farther 
away from the ocean and making it slightly warmer in 
the summer season and not so unpleasant in the winter 
season. In other words, the atmosphere is not so chilly 
because it is less moist from the penetrating fogs that come 
inland from the ocean and hover over Los Angeles in the 
fall, winter and spring. 

It is purely a residential town, containing about 35,000 
people from all sections of the country and from all 
walks of life. Many people huddled together cause 
a demand to arise for many necessaries, such as servants, 
foods, repairs and a multitude of small trades people 
come into existence, dealing in all kinds of merchandise 
and repairs. There are no factories. It is purely and 
simply a rich man's town. 

It has several good hotels at rates that ought to satisfy 
the demands of the traveling public, from $2 to $60 a 
day. You can find cheaper places, and still sign your let- 
ters from Pasadena, Cal. This is something to some people 
who want to make a lasting impression on the "folks" back 
home. 

Some of the residences are palaces in design and set- 
ting, pleasing and picturesque to the eye and a delight to 
see, so long as you do not pay the bills for the upkeep. 

There is a beautiful street, and all the streets are well 
kept and in good condition, but this one is one of art, called 

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millionaires' row. On both sides for blocks you see noth- 
ing but beautiful homes with beautiful lawns, filled with 
ornamental trees, shrubbery, flowers and roses of rare 
beauty, artistically planted and arranged, thus making all 
"a thing of beauty and joy forever." 

On this street you will find the residences of the late 
Mr. Busch of St. Louis, his son and his daughter. The 
widow is now living in Germany in their home on the Rhine. 

Mr. Busch of Budweiser fame, bought eighty acres of 
hilly ground, having deep ravines traversing its surface. 
He took sixty acres of this, upon which their homes are 
built facing the street, and made of the back yard his 
famous "sunken gardens," the most beautiful conception 
for home surroundings I have ever seen. No doubt it 
surpasses anything of its kind in the United States. 

He graded the hills, raised the ravines some, laid out 
beautiful drives and walks throughout the grounds, and 
artistically and with great symmetry and beauty, in the 
high places and in the low places where the ravines once 
were, he planted ornamental trees, shrubbery, flowers, vines 
and things of beauty everywhere, for others to enjoy, for 
he is dead. 

These grounds and improvements cost him about 
$2,000,000 and the annual expense to maintain them is 
$50,000. It requires a force of twenty to thirty men, owing 
to the season, to care for the property. He divided it 
into two parts — the upper and lower gardens. In the 
latter he has tried to portray human life in its pursuits, 
desires and amusements. He has made a small lake from 
a natural spring for the fisherman and the home of the 
frog. The hunter and his game are illustrated by small 
figures, and so on. But to me the most impressive of all 
is the German maiden, seated in her home surrounded by 

162 



BY LAND AND SEA 

her kitchen utensils waiting for a prince to put in an ap- 
pearance and take her as his bride. She was there with no 
other thought than to be his true helpmate to look after 
the home, prepare the meals, sew on his buttons, make life, 
in other words, worth while. Each performs his re- 
spective duties, one to provide and the other to prepare, 
as best he could, doing the things that bring to us all the 
sweet memories of sacrifices made for us in our youthful 
days. And the German girl is taught this above any other 
girl in the world. The strength and power of a nation 
depend on the strength and stability of its homes. Are 
we in America profiting by this domestic characteristic of 
the German people? I fear not. We shun work and a 
simple life with simple pleasures that always please. 

Mr. Bush offered to give this property to the city if it 
would maintain it, charging a small fee for admission for 
hospital purposes. It declined, so in his will he set aside a 
sufficient fund in trust, the income from which is to keep it 
in perpetual repair. 

On my way to Los Angeles I noticed a sign that the 
women of California were giving a dog show all their own. 
I never saw a dog show and never could understand why 
women were crazy about dogs. Now, my good old friend, 
Hon. Henry Wallace, may be able to analyze this foolish- 
ness of women about dogs. 

I paid my 25 cents and was duly ushered through, and 
of all the noises and yelpings of big dogs and little dogs 
and all kinds of dogs I never heard before. There were 
dogs with long tails and dogs with short tails ;' dogs with 
straight legs and dogs with crooked legs; dogs with long 
hair and dogs with short hair ; dogs in glass cases and dogs 
in baby cribs; dogs in bull pens and dogs in the open. 
Airedales, German police, Pomeranians, Toy poodles, Jap- 

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anese spaniels, Maltese and Yorkshire terriers, bull dogs 
and dogs from everywhere from pups up, about 300 in all. 

I approached a colored maid who was manicuring, comb- 
ing the hair and caring for a little pup in a baby crib. 
I asked her the owner's name and learned that it was a 
Mrs. Stone. It had a whole platform surrounded with 
flowers and roses. I had to smile and remarked: "If 
Mrs. Stone would take half that good care of me I would 
settle down and behave myself." I thought the old colored 
woman would split her sides laughing. Her common, sense 
took in the situation. Her black eyes with a smile kept 
track of me so long as I remained. I afterwards saw the 
owner, a handsome woman decorated with diamonds. Think 
of a male, not a man, competing with a dog for a woman's 
affection and respect. 

These women selected a man to judge of the good points 
of their dogs. I did not understand this. But one woman 
entered the ring, weighing about three hundred pounds, 
leading a little tiny dog by a purple ribbon, and it was 
dancing and prancing around, it did look so funny and so 
cute. There is lots of fun in this world if you will only 
let yourself see it. Now that woman was serious, but the 
dog was not. I believe the diminutive creature saw the 
joke of the situation. 

One old lady had a little Yorkshire with hair a foot 
long. She was homely as a mud fence and was combing 
the hair of her pet all the time. The judge would not 
stand for the hair being down, so she took it to one side 
and did it up with hair pins. It looked cute, too, after its 
hair was "done up." 

And I approached another woman with a dog in her 
lap. It looked as if it might be sick, for by this time 
I was getting some knowledge of dogology. She told me 

164< 



BY LAND AND SEA 

it was not just sick, but got into a fight with two other 
dogs the day before and got the worst of it. She said 
the doctor told her to rub the torn flesh with iodine. I ex- 
pressed my sympathies and told her I thought that was as 
good as anything. 

And "Lucky" Baldwin's daughter. Miss Anita, was 
there with a $2,700 English bull, some dog. 

Of course these women often need the services of a dog 
doctor, and he is here. And they have a dog cemetery 
of course. Whether a minister ofiiciates or not I am unable 
to state. 

Yes, indeed, life is one sweet dream, if you will it so. 
Will it now, dear reader? 



Avalon, Catalina Islands, Cal. 

ABOUT the year 1550 this island was discovered and 
at the time regarded as worthless because it was no 
more than an upheaval of rock by volcanic action. It is 
about eight miles long and three to six miles wide, being 
sixty-five miles around and about twenty-five miles from 
San Pedro, in the ocean, the harbor of Los Angeles. It 
was controlled by the Spanish and called San Salvador. 
Afterwards it was substantially abandoned, selling for 
thirty-five dollars and finally became and is now the prop- 
erty of Banning Bros., who reside in Los Angeles. 

The town of Avalon was started and consists almost 
wholly of hotels, restaurants and shops, and, during the 
season, from 3,000 to 6,000 people inhabit the island and 
pass away their time in fishing, boating, bathing, etc. The 
Banning Bros, own 90 per cent of the improvements on the 
island. 

166 

12 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

They undertook to cut a roadway around and over the 
elevations, but after an expenditure of $80,000 the work 
ceased and their improvement remains unfinished. 

The island is inhabited by eagles and thousands of wild 
goats. Now, some of these wild goats may have been tour- 
ists who went there years ago, became stranded and con- 
cluded to rvm wild. The eagles I saw had white heads 
which indicates an age of four years or more. The goats 
are black. Living is good for the eagles but not so good 
for the goats. I should judge the dry season must seem 
long to them, for there is not much vegetation, but a goat is 
a goat the year round and that is why some people are 
called goats, especially those who live in some cities I 
know and elect to public office men who have notoriously 
not made good. If they are not goats, what are they.'' 

At the south end of the island a sea lion hatchery is 
protected by the government and sea lions are there in large 
numbers, cavorting around in the water. They are tame. 
Most wild animals, and some men, are tame when you are 
good and kind to them. And why not women.'' A sea 
lion is one that lives in warm water and has for that reason 
short hair. A seal, yet of the same species, lives in frozen 
waters most of the year, and God in His kindness clothes 
it with long, silken fur to protect it against the cold, 
and women are crazy for it because its garments are 
beautiful, so much so that governments are compelled to 
protect the seals from women's love of adornment and the 
ultimate extinction of the seal. Yet woman is for peace. 
Yes, until her interests become involved, when she becomes 
the most cruel and deceptive of all animals. She was so en- 
dowed to defend and protect her young, and so she will 
always be, side by side with man, defending the nation's 
honor, her home's and her own. 

166 



BY LAND AND SEA 

On your way to the island you take a boat at San 
Pedro, and if you are watchful and lucky you may see 
things you never saw before. A fish comes up out of 
the water and flies like a bird because it has wings. One 
started to pass over our ship, hit a young lady and fell 
on the deck and suffered the penalty of death. Then a 
whale about fifteen feet long came up out of the water 
for a few minutes, disappeared and then arose again, re- 
peating it three times. I have heard stories that were 
whales, have read about whales, and I was glad to see a 
whale even near Los Angeles, and there are others. 

While on the island I stepped into the large glass boat 
to get a survey of the marine gardens. The water is so 
clear, with a little assistance and some imagination you 
can see to the depth of ninety feet. You see lots of things 
below in the short journey you take. Fish of many kinds 
and sizes sporting around, hunting for food, making a liv- 
ing. Vegetable growth of various kinds, but to me the 
most interesting was the sea weed called kelp. All reach 
up for the sunlight above, but kelp grows quite high, and 
in the restless sea breaks off and is driven towards the 
shore. It winds around swimmers sometimes and, being 
unable to disentangle themselves, they succumb and are 
drowned. Manufacturers lately have discovered that kelp 
contains potash and is valuable in the manufacturing of ex- 
plosives. Thus everything is of some use if we only knew. 

But as I was gazing at the bottom of the sea I thought 
what an ideal state of socialism. All food free for the 
taking. No cares, no troubles. The big fish were after 
the little fish and the little fish were making their getaway, 
for to them it was a question of life and death. After all, 
living is a struggle, whether in water or out of water; 
whether Republican, Democrat or Progressive; Jew or gen- 

167 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

tile ; Catholic or Methodist. The law of preservation exists 
in and through all good things and to do your duty alone 
and independently as best you can is working out the orig- 
inal plan. 



San Gabriel, Cal. 

MANY generations ago, long before Columbus discov- 
ered America, a people, quiet and mild in habits 
and disposition, engaged in agricultural pursuits on a large 
scale, occupied and cultivated large sections of land between 
the Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast. Who they 
were, whence they came and where they went history 
so far fails to record. Their occupation is conclusive as 
to their not being a war-like people. Tillers of the soil 
are never fighters, except to establish or defend moral 
issues. Their association with horses, cattle, sheep, etc., and 
flowers naturally influences their mental thoughts and 
converts them into a law-abiding and God-fearing people. 
They naturally become fixtures to the soil with simple tastes 
and habits. 

We call these early settlers cliff" dwellers, because they 
carved their homes in the rocks high up and in some places 
most difficult to reach. Having no arms of defense, or a 
desire not to use them, they evidently secured these places 
of abode as positions of safety for their families against 
men and beasts roaming over the country about them. Their 
homes extended into the rocks hundreds of feet in places 
and the space was cut up into rooms and chambers in which 
they dwelt. A most interesting people, no doubt, and I wish 
we knew more about them. Students are and have been 



168 



BY LAND AND SEA 

taking every means to preserve their ruins that the future 
may know more of these people now lost to the world. 

Then came along the American Indian, the successor of 
the cliff dweller. Columbus in 1492 found him here by 
the thousands, a hunter and wanderer, roaming all over 
the land in pursuit of game. Animal food was his chief 
diet. Meat eaters are always war-like in their habits and 
disposition. Even individual meat eaters are more quarrel- 
some than vegetarians. Cold climates force animals to 
eat meat, or the products of meat, to generate heat in the 
body to better withstand the cold from without. 

So no doubt the Indian exterminated the cliff dweller 
and thus became the owner of the American soil for his 
"happy hunting ground." Where he came from is a dis- 
puted question, but where he is going there can be no 
doubt. Like the buffalo in the park, we shall perpetuate his 
memory with his statue in front of the cigar store. He 
is a lively proposition today only because of his pension, 
and the white man will in time separate him from that. 
So it is, "Lo, the poor Indian!" He has had both his 
friends and his enemies ever since he was located. When 
kindly treated he was not unlike other human beings; he 
was kind and generous when appreciated. 

About 1768, Father Junipero Serra, then a young man 
of Spain, conceived the idea of coming to southern Cali- 
fornia and devoting his life to the conversion of Indians to 
the Christian religion. You must bear in mind that Cali- 
fornia at this time was a barren wilderness. Without an 
abundance of water and food, everywhere it meant untold 
hardships. The land was owned by Spain by virtue of dis- 
covery of Columbus, claimed by some to have been an 
Italian and by others a Spanish subject and a Jew. 



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Father Serra landed at Monterey, a trading point on 
Monterey bay, 126 miles south of San Francisco. He 
was a Franciscan friar, young, in good health and full of 
enthusiasm for his chosen work for the Lord in a strange 
land, far from home. 

The officials of the government at San Diego invited 
him to come there for a consultation, which resulted 
in his starting on his great work of converting the Indians 
from that point. He erected his first mission at San Diego, 
and then going north for 700 miles, placing them thirty- 
five miles apart, just a day's journey on foot, he built 
all told, twenty-one. All but three are in existence, some 
in a dilapidated condition. Some have been restored and 
are now used for worship. 

Father Serra was a kind, lovable man with marked 
executive ability. He placed two friars over each mis- 
sion. He did this so that they would be company for 
each other and not become lonesome. The following shows 
the wisdom of his plan and the dreariness of the country: 
at Carmel mission, near Carmel-by-the-Sea, a father died. 
It so depressed the survivor and he became so lonely that 
he went insane. This is what Father Serra found on his 
journey, of inspection made some time later. And here 
under the altar lies the remains of Father Serra, while the 
good he did still lives. 

These missions were erected at diflPerent periods from 
1769, covering a space of thirty years. Some of them 
were highly decorated with mural paintings of real value 
by Spanish artists and with a peculiar architecture suitable 
for the climate, blending with the sunshine and flowers 
and scenery of the land. The charm and beauty of the 
architecture of the missions have been adopted in the erec- 
tion of many homes and palatial residences all over south- 

170 



BY LAND AND SEA 

ern California. The quiet, subdued coloring also adds to 
the pleasure and beauty of the country. 

Father Serra began at once on his great work. With 
the teaching of religion and the New Spirit beyond, he 
taught them industry. He taught them to make baskets, 
kitchen utensils, furniture and how to work in clay and 
leather, and how to make articles from these. He taught 
them agriculture. So at each mission you have a vocational 
school, the first on American soil. Thus each mission grew 
and became the owner of large quantities of grain of 
various kinds, cattle, horses, etc. Thus the Indian was 
being converted in more ways than one. He was being 
made a farmer instead of a hunter. All were happy and 
prosperous, and all was going well. 

Then Mexico became independent of Spain. Then 
Juarez, while ruling Mexico, confiscated all property of the 
missions, both personal and real. In 1846 the United States 
became the owner and Father Serra was a spirit and no 
more. Thus began the decline of the missions, largely from 
neglect, but the good they did has lived after them. 
For all these reasons these missions should be restored. 
Over 100,000 Indians attended these missions. Over 
73,000 of them were converted. At each mission a 
cemetery was established. At Santa Barbara 4,000 
are buried, to be near when the call comes. Sixteen 
thousand are resting in the cemetery at San Gabriel. These 
missions are valuable assets to California and should be 
restored and preserved. They are as valuable in history 
as most of the cathedrals, churches and monuments of the 
old countries. Let them stand for ages to come for their 
beginning was prompted by the noblest impulses of the 
human breast to do and be good one to another. The mis- 
sion play now being performed at this place has been giving 

171 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

thirteen performances a week, for forty-four weeks, to 
good audiences. It has its own theater erected across the 
street from the old San Gabriel mission. It is a plain 
unique building well adapted to the giving of the play, 
which is a portrayal of the founding of the missions and 
the work of Father Serra, staging the history of early 
California. 

The conception is magnificent. The ground work is 
there for an historical drama of great value, true to life 
and valuable as a contribution to the chronicle of civiliza- 
tion in America. Some parts of the play I do not like. 
They are weak and detract from the subj ect treated. Other 
parts are strong and well presented. Taken on the whole, 
it touches the human heart in places and this is why it is 
patronized. 

Had it been composed on the order of "A Servant in 
the House" I am of the opinion that the mental impres- 
sion of Father Serra's work would be more lasting. In 
other words, I think there is too much levity and not enough 
seriousness in the real problems of life, such as Father 
Serra's work showed. 

The players intend to travel and give performances at 
the close of the expositions. I fear it will not be a financial 
success, yet, if not, it ought to be and can be made to be a 
success financially. I wish them well. 

San Gabriel is a beautiful little town twelve miles from 
Los Angeles. 



172 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Redlands, Cal. 

THIS is a beautiful town about seventy miles from Los 
Angeles. It was started by a few rich families as a 
rich man's place, but the poor have congregated there also, 
demonstrating that "the poor ye have with you always." 

There are many beautiful homes and fine drives in and 
about the town and many places of interest. The Smiley 
Heights, consisting of fruit trees, flowers, ornamental trees, 
drives and scenery for miles around is indeed beautiful. 
It contains six hundred acres formerly owned by two 
brothers. New York hotel men, since dead, and valued at 
$200,000, which the heirs want the city to buy for a park. 
Many orange groves and some walnut orchards are located 
here. 

The walnut proposition is not regarded by some as a 
success. It seems that many trees after they arrive at the 
age of twelve or fifteen years, begin to decay at the heart, 
after which they cease to bear, yet they may look fine and 
show no indications from without. It takes from eight to 
nine years before a tree begins to bear profitably, and with 
this early decline it is not regarded as a paying invest- 
ment. There are seventeen trees planted to the acre and 
when in their prime and with a good season will produce 
from seven to nine hundred pounds to the acre. California 
had a good crop this year, estimated at 13,000 tons. 

Neither is dairying or poultry raising a success here 
because feed is too high and other conditions unfavorable. 
Alfalfa is of short duration. You can get only a half crop 
the third year of its existence, when it has to be plowed 
under by the fourth or fifth year. A Bermuda grass gets 
into the alfalfa and takes complete possession of the field, 
and the alfalfa is smothered out. This grass grows from 

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ALONG THE PACIFIC 

six to nine feet deep and spreads like a house afire. They 
sow barley and cut and bale it like hay, which is now 
bringing over twenty dollars a ton. These things make the 
operation of a dairy expensive, and milk is now selling for 
ten cents a quart and the demand is greater than the supply. 

With poultry the chickens must be fed and feed is ex- 
pensive for them, too. They cannot go out and pick up a 
meal, for such food does not exist here. And again the 
hens are affected by the climate the same as the people. 
They do not want to work. They get tired of their old 
dress and begin to chatter with each other about the dif- 
ferent styles of gowns and how they want them made, 
whether cut bias or sKt in the skirt, or whether long or 
short, until six months are lost in disposing of their old 
dresses and putting on the new ones. During this period 
they produce no eggs. In cold climates hens do this shop- 
ping in ninety days, but here it is six months. I know 
of a poultry ranch containing 1,000 hens and just now 
they are busy getting their new clothes and all they pro- 
duce is one case of eggs a day. You can see they will 
eat their heads off collecting alimony before they will go 
back to work again. Hence large quantities of milk, eggs 
and butter are shipped in from the adjoining states. You 
must remember that no vegetation or food is produced here 
except by irrigation or dry farming whether for man, beast 
or fowl. Now dry farming is done when the Lord gives 
water by raining and here it is mostly in January and Feb- 
ruary. Wheat and barley are thus produced in a small way, 
but on a larger scale farther north. This section is devoted 
almost exclusively to the raising of fruit and vegetables. 
Of these more are raised than the near-by markets can 
absorb, and most of them being perishable, enormous losses 
occur every season. 

174 



BY LAND AND SEA 

I met a man at San Bernardino who has a forty acre 
peach orchard. The best offer he could get was eleven dol- 
lars a ton picked and delivered. Having a large number 
of hogs he shook the peaches to the ground for his hogs. 
That is all right for the hogs but hard on the bank account. 
So it is in many lines. The Chinese and Japs control 90 
per cent of the vegetables produced in California. The 
Anglo-Saxon cannot and will not compete with these two 
races. The mode of livings economy and industry deter- 
mine the survival of the fittest. And these alone will 
determine the conditions here for the future, not only of 
production, but of the wealth if it is permitted to be in- 
vested in real and personal property on the coast. How 
should the balance of the United States regard it in con- 
nection with who should control the Pacific? These prob- 
lems are to be met and disposed of by future generations, 
not by the coast people alone, but by the whole United 
States. 

Many Iowa people remember the Evan's cafe across 
from the Kirkwood hotel. The widow and her daughter 
are located at Whittier on a fine orange grove with a fine 
country residence. The trees are filled with oranges, they 
look well and Mrs. Evans and her daughter are well and 
happy. They offered me some good wine and bread and I 
accepted like a patriot. 

Dr. and Mrs. Smouse are here with their machine. Doc- 
tor is a safe man to ride with, and with the good roads and 
good hunting in the mountains, they are happy. 

We all made a visit on Hardy Harris at Monrovia the 
other day. Mr. A. H. Miles, the druggist, who with Mrs. 
Miles, now reside here, joined us. His name is the Harris 
in Harris, Emery & Co. He has an orange grove, well 
located and a fine country residence. Both he and Mrs. 

176 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Harris are well and happy. Mr. Harris looks exception- 
ally well. 

Both Iowa and Des Moines people are every where 
and in every direction. I notice, however, a warm spot in 
their hearts for the old state just the same. And it is 
always so, old memories cling to us until the last and are 
the sweetest after all. 



Riverside, Cal. 

THIS city is about seventy miles from Los Angeles and 
contains about 20,000 people. It is headquarters for 
the navel oranges of different kinds. Some mature in 
December and are shipped for the holiday trade, and others 
go to the market in January and February, the latter 
month being the time for the choice ones, fully ripe, for 
eating. They leave here picked green, in cars cooled to 29 
degrees, which temperature is maintained by icing the car in 
transit. The Valencia orange does not go on the market 
until June and July, when it must compete with apples and 
other kinds of fruit. The former has severe competition 
with Florida and importations from foreign countries. 
Hence the reason for the demand by the producers for pro- 
tection for citrus fruits. 

I have traveled about three hundred miles in the citrus 
fruit sections, visited many orchards, including walnut and 
olive orchards, vineyards, etc., and my former statements 
concerning the situation are fully confirmed. 

The orange and lemon propositions are a rich man's 
game here like horse racing in the east. He feels the need 
of a winter home when he gets old to amuse, entertain and 

176 



BY LAND AND SEA 

keep him busy when the ice and snow are superseded hy 
beautiful roses and posies and sunshine and showers, with 
miles of beautiful scenery and hard-surfaced roads going 
everywhere, and all these he finds in Southern California. 
He keeps servants, and an orange grove will give them a 
diversion — keep them from getting restless. 

One man can take care of ten acres and have time to 
play, except at picking time and possibly when Jack Frost 
threatens a visit. But, the worry! A baby isn't in it, not 
even when it has stomach troubles on a cold, frosty night. 
Now the young man can ask the married man if he wants 
fully to appreciate what I mean. He needs a good home 
and outbuildings and the orange or lemon groves to him 
are a mere garden, for his employes are to do, not only the 
work, but the worrying. 

The trees are beautiful, both in shape and appearance, 
and the leaves are a beautiful green, the orange, dark, and 
the lemon, light, in color. The land is cared for and looked 
after like a well-kept garden. And when trees are loaded 
with the yellow orange and you are surrounded with tropi- 
cal plants, shrubbery, trees and foliage of one kind and 
another, with plenty to draw upon back home, don't over- 
look this, some men and women, too, for that matter, you 
who are prone to feel and think you have advanced one more 
step towards heaven, when thus surrounded: 

"But life is real, life is earnest and things are not 
(always) what they seem." 

There are about one hundred trees to the acre. A tree 
begins to bear at four or five years of age and increases in 
productivity up to fifteen or eighteen years of age, after 
which it begins to decline, like old men to a spiritual state. 
When in its prime it will produce, conditions being right, 
from eight to twelve boxes to the tree and there are 

177 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

ninety-six large navel oranges in a box and a box will 
weigh about seventy pounds. A larger number of oranges 
are put in a box when they are small. They are sorted 
and packed with the greatest care. They are bought by 
packing houses by the ton from the producers, who receive 
anywhere from eighty cents to one dollar per box delivered. 
The price depends on the grade, the demand in the market 
and the largeness of the crop, and financial and commer- 
cial conditions may affect the price the same as that of 
wheat, cattle, etc. The producer is at the mercy of the 
packer. When the orange gets ripe it falls to the ground 
and loses much of its value, so it must be handled promptly. 
The danger line of frost is 27 degrees. At 26 the 
smudge pots are lighted. When the owners sleep they have 
a police patrol on motorcycles watching thermometers hang- 
ing at designated places for miles around covering the 
orchards in the combination to reduce this expense. One 
man inspects twenty, and if the weather starts downward, 
the owners are warned and they bounce out of warm beds 
with their men to light the smudge pots. Properly one pot 
should be at each tree. They burn the refuse of oil after 
all the commercial properties have been removed. It will 
not burn until a flash of live oil is added when lighted. 
It costs about one and one-half cents a gallon. An orange 
freezes in the center and is tasteless or tastes woody, so 
the next time you get such an orange at breakfast you 
will know what has happened to it. The trees are tender 
and the sprouts or points are killed by freezing also, and 
much damage is done to the tree. The trees here have not 
been as productive since the freeze three years ago. The 
crop this year is only a 50 per cent crop. A smaller crop 
means better prices but in the end no more money for the 
producer. 

178 



BY LAND AND SEA 

You must bear in mind that California was a desert and 
substantially all fruit has been brought from other parts of 
the world and experimented with here with success or 
failure. Irrigation is absolutely essential to produce vege- 
tation and nothing produced artificially is as good as when 
it grows naturally. It lacks flavor, is often devoid of taste, 
and cold weather is essential to the production of good 
fruit, the same as fine specimens of human beings. Cali- 
fornia does not and cannot raise good apples. The apples 
sold here come from Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and other 
states. What I have said about oranges applies to lemons, 
except you raise from four to six crops a year from lemon 
trees, whose value is no greater than that of the orange crop, 
a year's harvest bringing in about the same. 

Orange groves must be pruned and looked after con- 
stantly. You must fumigate the trees and keep them clean 
and healthy or you will have no fruit. This costs from 75 
cents to $1.60 a tree. You must irrigate every thirty days 
and this costs from $8 to $40 per acre, the cost depending 
on the proximity of your orchard to the source of supply. 
The method of irrigation, if from reservoirs and concrete 
conduits for miles away, will cost you money. Then you 
must fertilize your soil. The more liberal you are the more 
fruit you are likely to have. This will cost you from $100 
to $200 per acre. And last and not least is the interest and 
taxes on your investment. Money is not taxed in this 
state. The conservative and prevailing rate of interest 
here has been and is now 7 and 8 per cent. There is 
constant hazard in the business — too delicate and sensi- 
tive for me. I prefer the more prosaic investment in 
the steer and hog and corn and such things. 

They will ask you from $500 to $5,000 per acre for 
orange groves. The average price for a good orchard in 

179 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

good condition is from $800 to $1,800 per acre. If well 
and favorably located some money could be made from the 
investment at such prices. Some localities are more liable 
to frost than others, and with a mortgage on your grove, 
with this smudging expense, which is no small matter, 
with the suspense and worry which might cause your wife 
to go back to her own people and leave you with all your 
troubles, the prospect is not pleasant to contemplate. Be 
patient. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

I POSSIBLY started in this city wrong. The dog show 
lasted three days but in some respects it is still with me. 

I recall a handsome young woman sitting in front of a 
kennel with a bull pup in her lap. I thought she was admir- 
ing its eyes when all at once she put her fingers on each 
side of its mouth, pressing the lips so as to make them 
protrude, then and there, with malice aforethought, placed 
her own lips on the dog's lips and gave it one long, linger- 
ing kiss. This was repeated. When she saw me standing 
near looking possibly with an unpleasant expression on my 
face, she turned her back to me. Then and there I made a 
vow never to kiss a young woman who owned a dog. This 
was a foolish thing, possibly, for a man of my age to do, 
but I did it with no reservations. 

I went to the other end of the room and there saw a 
woman about 45 years of age, peering into the face of a 
big hound and, of course, I thought she was getting a foot- 
hold to do the same thing, when suddenly the dog snapped 
at her chin and bit it. A yell and a rush to the hospital 
for fear of rabies. Now I did not blame the dog for it was 
tied and helpless. The woman may have had a bad breath, 

180 



BY LAND AND SEA 

she may have been eating onions. Judgment should be sus- 
pended until the dog tells its story. 

When the show was closing, the ties being broken and 
love matches torn asunder, judging from the crying and 
weeping among the dogs on their departure, had you not 
known that the dog show was closing, you would have de- 
clared that the Kaiser had entered the town and was throw- 
ing his gas bombs everywhere from the noise that was being 
made. Next day I discovered fifteen or twenty dog stores 
in the city, all apparently doing a good business. Of course 
they carried birds, rabbits and guinea pigs. Merchants sell 
in a locality what the people demand. No other city of 
much larger population can boast of so many such stores. 

This is a demand from the women. And why .'' 

To me it reveals the true cause of so much unrest in 
our homes followed by separation and divorce. The wife is 
longing to be amused. Her husband in due time concen- 
trates his mind and his efforts on his business, to make it a 
success, that he may provide well for his family while 
living, and especially after death. He feels he has not the 
time, and at night is tired and often worn out and needs 
recuperation in rest and sleep for the duties of tomorrow. 
So he seems indifferent, but he is not always ; the Avif e thinks 
he is growing cold, and with no children to amuse her, it is 
either an affinity or a dog. So, boys, get the dog. Women 
do not concentrate their minds on a long course of study. 
They are changeable and their temperaments demand and 
must have amusements. They must be entertained. So 
get your dogs and cats and birds, unless you have a house 
full of cliildren. Secure the pets. 

This city has a population of fully 500,000 people. It 
is larger than San Francisco, because it has one more 

181 

13 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

representative in the state senate and two more in the 
lower house. This makes it the largest city in the state. 

When I first arrived everything seemed so strange to 
me. It impressed me that I was attending a Fourth of 
Jvlj celebration. The people were plain in appearance 
and dress, thin in the face, and so many of the men wore 
full beards. You had Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all 
around you. No one was in a hurry. It would be impos- 
sible for you to go fast. Most of the sidewalks are narrow 
and in fine weather everybody apparently is out. 

To help matters along the city management has placed 
six palms per block on each side of the street, the boxes 
containing the same taking up nine square feet of the walk. 
This not being enough, the city, not having alleys, has per- 
mitted each merchant facing on the street to install double 
doors directly in the center of the walk. These openings 
are from five to seven feet long by five feet wide. Many 
of the buildings are only eighteen feet wide. Now imagine 
the conditions when several merchants near each other make 
use of these openings at the same time. The people have 
to go single file. I have seen as many as thirty people 
waiting to break in and go single file in the opposite direc- 
tion. Both the palms and openings are nuisances that a 
live city would not tolerate a day. The openings should 
be reduced to one-half the size and installed near the curb. 
The palms should be eliminated. This would relieve the 
congestion materially all over the city, and it might be 
well to regulate the hours of the openings. 

At night the newsboys kick all unsold papers into the 
street. There are no wastepaper boxes anywhere. Every 
one throws refuse in the streets. No other place is provided. 
This is very much like Des Moines as I used to know it. 
Maybe my friend Myerly has reformed in this respect and 

182 



BY LAND AND SEA 

is not only making an effort, but is keeping clean streets. 
The streets are also dirty. They could not be otherwise. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

AFTER a six-hours* trip over the fine country roads^ 
on returning early in the evening we arrived in the 
city just as it was getting dark and the chauffeur had been 
so accustomed to the smoothness of the country highways 
all afternoon he forgot that he was just entering the city 
of Los Angeles, and the Des Moines waves in the city 
paving made us all alive to the efficiency of the city 
administration. The seat and myself separated, I advanc- 
ing skyward, my head striking a crossbar supporting the 
cover to the automobile, and coming down I recognized that 
the top of my derby hat was not what it used to be. It was 
seriously caved in. I do not know what made me do it, but 
I immediately thought thoughts of my good friend Myerly 
and Brother Hanna. We all more or less recall past experi- 
ences and compare them with present experiences, especially 
those which ought to have been otherwise. 

Los Angeles is governed by a commission of nine coun- 
cilmen, or rather eight, one being a woman, Mrs. Lindsey. 
They are paid $200 a month. The mayor draws $4,000 
per year, and all serve two years. The city administration 
is much like Des Moines, tolerated, the people trusting 
in the Lord for something better to turn up in the future. 
Although a city of about 500,000, the air, conduct and 
management of the public business is much like a country 
town — easy, lazy and good natured — except public moneys 
raised by taxation are poured out like water from a bucket, 
resulting in high taxation, high rents and small results for 

188 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

the amount expended. Nearly all the paving is bad. The 
city has grown too fast for the sewer system, hence it is 
ineiEcient. The city administration is careless and thought- 
less and incompetent in the administration of public affairs. 
Public receptacles to receive waste paper, fruit, etc., appear 
no where, so the people throw everything into the streets. 
You can imagine what this is when 50,000 to 100,000 tour- 
ists are here most of the year, many of them inexperienced 
in city life, so they walk on all sides of the narrow side- 
walks, are out day and night with nothing to do but walk 
up and down, eat fruit and attend the movies. Out of 
every one hundred people here, about twenty-five work 
and the other seventy-five live off of the twenty-five who 
work. They never hurry, but leisurely move as if they 
had been on the job all day. 

The traffic on the streets is the worst I have ever seen. 
Standing at the crossings traffic policemen direct the use of 
the streets by moving the body. No whistle is used to 
give people warning that a change will take place in a 
few seconds. All at once the policeman turns his body and 
hundreds of people and machines are started the other way, 
and a lot of people on foot are caught in the middle with 
machines all around them, and they must extricate them- 
selves the best they can. They could not determine what 
second he was going to swing his body the other way, which 
he usually does in an easy, good natured, careless manner. 

But they think it is military and the best ever. The 
papers announce that representatives from New York, Chi- 
cago and elsewhere are here making a study of the traffic 
plan and the people believe in it as a cat drinks sweet milk. 
This is a weakness nearly all communities possess, but here 
it is and the "best in the world" is in California. They 
are sensitive to just criticism even. 

184 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Mrs. Lindsey is head of the Public Welfare committee. 
What a woman bent on reform cannot think of in time 
is not worth considering. The town is full of reformers. 
The newspaper boys tell me the most of their troubles come 
from the Iowa contingent. A great many of the women 
having nothing to do have pet roosters, as well as pet dogs, 
monkeys, etc. A complaint one day was filed with Mrs. 
Lindsey against a rooster that persisted in rising at 4 
o'clock in the morning and crowing to warn his family of 
the approach of day and that it must get up, get out and 
get to work. Of course this is a case "where everybody 
works but father." Now he has been doing this long before 
St. Peter got into trouble with him and he will continue to 
do it no doubt to the end of time. Yet the council wrangled 
over the suppression of the rooster, for it developed there 
were others, for over two weeks and he still remains the 
head of the roost, at the tender mercies of Councilwoman 
Lindsey. 

Lack of employment produces much poverty but it is 
not conspicuous. Only a living wage is paid in the mercan- 
tile lines, and in all other lines for that matter. The work 
does not exist here. The supply is greater, much greater, 
than the demand. The mild climate will always produce 
this condition, and the larger the population the worse it 
will become. The moral condition of young men and 
women from lack of employment and in many cases lack 
of funds force them into the commission of crime, often to 
appease hunger alone. 

California has the lowest birth rate of any state in the 
union, according to population. She has the largest num- 
ber of suicides of any state in the union. She has the 
largest number of insane asylums and insane patients of 
any state in the union, and all are full. Much of this comes 

186 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

from poverty and distress, and they exist here more largely 
than in any other state. This is no place for you unless you 
have money, and more money has been permanently planted 
here than taken away. This is a state to spend money, 
not make it. Few win and the multitude lose. 

This city has over 4,000 acres in parks and some of 
them are beautiful. Many are small and located in differ- 
ent parts of the city. Central Park is in the heart of the 
city and each day and every day in the year it is filled with 
men of all classes. All subj ects are discussed and many of 
them settled and disposed of right then and there. One 
day two men beyond three score and ten went to bat over 
a religious question. One day a lone woman wandered in 
and accidentally found a vacant seat. The man next to her 
engaged her in conversation and married her within thirty 
days, and he turned out to be a millionaire. After that, 
for a short time, the women tried to occupy all the vacant 
seats in the park and thus ruined the business. 

Life is really amusing here. The old men want to marry 
the girls and the rich old women want to marry the kids. 
This city has many of both and some to spare. An old 
lady married a young man of twenty-five. He was her 
chauffeur and one day took her for a ride in the mountains 
and at a steep turn, he said the gearing refused to work, 
and he jumped, clearing the machine and landing all right, 
but he started the old lady and machine over a precipice 
300 feet below, and after looping the loop a few times, 
touched bottom and the old lady's spirit was no more. The 
young man and husband remained in jail a few months and 
was discharged for want of evidence. 

Another young man from San Francisco caught an old 
lady with a fine residence, three machines, servants, etc. 
He kept her moving, going to movies every day up to mid- 
186 



BY LAND AND SEA 

night. The old lady could not stand the pace and passed 
on after a few months. The young man did not own a suit 
of clothes. Now he is a young man of affluence. 

An old man eighty-three years of age, rich, advertised 
for a wife, to be not over twenty years of age, plump, 
red headed, willing to be a mother, not to apply for divorce, 
to whom he would give one-half his fortune, the other half 
to be the child's. A mother called with her seventeen-year- 
old daughter and the old man on inspection said she filled 
the bill, accepted and married her. The old man put on a 
college suit and the child a picture hat and they became one. 
And such is life in the far west with sunshine and flowers 
and showers and beautiful golden sunsets. Life is one 
sweet dream if you will it so. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

CALIFORNIA is four and one-half times larger than 
Iowa, but has only a little more than half the counties, 
hence the counties are very large in area. The city of Los 
Angeles is located in Los Angeles county and all told, the 
county has twenty-six towns, and a population of about 
650,000 people, 500,000 of whom reside in the city of 
Los Angeles. 

The city has been boosted not only in population, but in 
land area. It wanted more land to divide up into town 
lots, and other purposes, so now it contains 288 square 
miles, more than five times larger than Des Moines. One 
way it is forty-four miles across the city limits and the 
other way it is twenty-nine miles. It got ambitious for a 
harbor so obtained control of a .strip one to two blocks 
wide for twenty-six miles to the sea, taking in Wilmington 

187 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

and San Pedro, the harbor proper, on the sea. This made 
a new element to be governed, a harbor commission to 
appoint, with more officers and more trouble, with constant 
agitation for government aid to make it deeper and better 
for the largest boats afloat. 

On the other hand it went two hundred and fifty miles 
to the mountains for pure drinking water, tunneling forty- 
two miles of the way, at a cost of about twenty-five millions 
of dollars for which bonds have been issued. As a private 
enterprise on behalf of the city it adopted bodily San Fer- 
nando valley, consisting of about 109,000 acres, to give a 
right of way for its pipeline and to sell water to the farmers 
for irrigation purposes. The excavation for two hundred 
and fifteen miles has a width and depth of ten and one-half 
to twelve and one-half feet, the water passing through an 
iron pipe nine feet in diameter. Reservoirs at Fernando 
were built to meet emergencies and the wants of irrigation, 
making the capacity of this enterprise, 300,000,000 gallons 
of water a day, enough for the wants of from one to two 
millions of people. They expect also to generate electricity 
and sell power for manufacturing purposes. The altitude 
of the upper end of the aqueduct above the datum plane of 
Los Angeles is about 3,500 feet. They claim this fall of 
confined water will generate 91,000 horsepower. To con- 
struct the power plants a further bond issue has been voted, 
so that when the enterprise is completed as originally 
intended, the total expenditure will be about thirty millions 
of dollars. 

The enterprise is fixed. The debt is in operation. The 
returns are largely speculative and mostly exist in the 
future. The present conditions make taxes high and water, 
too, to meet the annual interest charge, and with the large 
land area to govern make the administration of this city 

188 



BYLANDANDSEA 

an expensive proposition and will continue to do so, with 
higher taxes yet, for years to come. 

On the other hand the boosters are united for a popula- 
tion of 1,000,000 in 1920. When I say boosters I mean the 
real estate men as generals and the financial institutions, 
hotels and tourists who have been caught with a permanent 
investment, trusting to the Lord to send others like them- 
selves to take the deals off their hands. The woods are 
full of these fellows. There has been only one business 
in Los Angeles and that is to sell real estate. Even on 
Sunday if you ride out you will see blackboards erected 
everywhere with small real estate office buildings near by. 
A real estate agent will be there smiling to meet you with 
his blackboard covered with bargains. Just a small pay- 
ment down, the balance on time. In every direction you see 
this, so that the wealth of this city is on paper. Chalk 
will stick on the blackboards for eight or nine months, 
because there is no rain. 

Then you will ask, what made Los Angeles grow? The 
big crops and the big prices in the Mississippi valley, with 
rates, beautiful pictures and fine advertising issued by the 
railroads. 

The big crops and big prices in Iowa, for example, 
began in about 1900 through Holden and others agitating 
intensive farming for Iowa. In Los Angeles county alone 
about 100,000 Iowa people reside, besides the large num- 
ber who come to spend the winter regularly. The lands of 
Iowa began to advance and kept on advancing each year 
until the old Iowa farmers sold out to get away from the 
ice and snow and heat that made them rich and created 
within them a desire to enjoy their declining days in the 
"sunshine and among the flowers" throughout the year. 

To prove ray conclusions correct, compare the decline of 

189 



" 1860-1870 




" 1870-1880 




" 1880-1890 




" 1890-1900 




" 1900-1910 





ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Iowa population with the growth of Los Angeles. I take 
my figures from the census: 

From 1850-1860 Los Angeles gained 2,775 

" 1,343 

" 5,445 

39,212 

" 52,084 

" 216,719 

These Iowa farmers brought millions of dollars with 
them. About twelve years ago Los Angeles had a popula- 
tion of about 100,000. Add to any city of this size an 
increase in population of 400,000 with millions in their 
pockets and what else could you expect other than wild 
speculation in land. All those who planted early and up 
to five years ago made fortunes, and now the reaction is on. 
The natural wants of the people in necessaries such as 
houses, foods, clothing and some luxuries, created a rush 
to go into the retail business to supply these wants. The 
rents went up like a kite and tenants wanted more places 
and larger places and began to compete with each other 
for locations. The result is that doing business in Los 
Angeles today is a luxury because of the high rents. Job- 
bing, wholesaling and manufacturing are small because the 
volume of business does not exist. There are not enough peo- 
ple located west of the Rocky mountains to sustain such in- 
stitutions. These must content themselves in supplying tem- 
porary wants and making repairs. And again, iron does 
not exist in California so far as known and manufacturing 
must be limited to certain lines only. However, it is a 
great state and is doing great things in other lines. It will 
find its own and is now sufi'ering greatly from bad national 
legislation. 



190 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Los Angeles, Cal, 

CALIFORNIA wants capital and has always wanted 
money. It has given encouragement to the person 
who came here with cash. When states in the east were 
pursuing persons who possessed money both day and night 
by means of tax ferrets and other means, this state was 
enacting laws to protect such individuals. There is no tax 
on money deposited in savings banks in this state. There is 
no tax of any kind on a mortgage given by a citizen of this 
state to another citizen of this state. Money deposited in 
a national bank is taxed. The banks pay 3 per cent on 
checking accounts and 4 per cent interest on time deposits, 
and in some cases as high as 6 per cent is paid on time 
deposits. The banks possibly, under certain circumstances, 
can afford to do this because the usury laws do not apply 
until the rate goes beyond 24 per cent per annum. A trust 
deed is given here which empowers the owner to get pos- 
session of realty in thirty days in case of default. This 
is frequently used here to take the place of what is known 
in Iowa as the second mortgage. 

Hence the man who is well posted on values and plays 
safety first is making good when he stays on the credit 
side of the proposition. If he gets on the other side the 
chances are in due time he will attend a first class funeral, 
for he will be thoroughly dead. When you go "dead" here 
it is very doubtful indeed if you will ever be able to raise 
another "spark," crank or no crank. 

There are thirty-one banks in this city, thirteen national 
and eighteen savings banks. The last call gave the nation- 
als with $76,000,000 on deposit and the savings banks 
$110,000,000. 



191 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

I personally know that the tax ferrets drove some Iowa 
people out of Iowa to this city because of the more favor- 
able conditions granted money. These conditions made this 
city grow as much as anything else. 

One banker told me that he had over $10,000,000 in 
his bank belonging to Iowa people alone. If one banker 
has this much, what have the other thirty banks on deposit 
of money belonging to former Iowa people? Money is 
only a medium of exchange, and flies away when you attack 
it and locates among its friends. To drive money away 
from your home injures no one in the end but the persons 
foolishly making the attack. Several banks have engaged 
popular Iowa men on good salaries to circulate among Iowa 
people for their deposits. Some of the booster organiza- 
tions in Iowa ought to persuade many of its reformers to 
join the United States army. It has too many, at least in 
some lines. 

The main business street is Broadway and an eighteen- 
foot front here rents from $1,000 to $1,500 per month. 
No tenant with the overhead charges can handle enough 
business in such a room 150 feet deep to pay such rent. 
Many of them are not doing it here. They are dying, and 
some landlords are permitting them to continue and keep 
the lights burning and pay what they can. Main street is 
next with rents from $400 to $800 per month, and tenants 
sliding along on cobblestones about the same. And so it 
is on Spring street. Rents are based on values fringing on 
the clouds above. They will have to squeeze the water out, 
and it is being squeezed out now, for the new crop of 
tourists has not been making investments for the last two 
years. 

The land has been divided into lots to the ocean, twenty- 
six miles away, and for miles in every direction, almost to 

192 



BY LAND AND SEA 

San Diego, 150 miles to the south. The whole population 
of New York City of five and a quarter millions of people 
could locate here and each individual could find a lot for 
a home that is now vacant. They ask for lots 50 by 160 
feet from $1,000 to $1,500 eighteen and twenty miles from 
the business part of the city. 

Of course, rents in the residence sections are cheap 
and naturally so based on such conditions. I have seen 
fine apartments with hot and cold water, nicely arranged, 
for $4 and $5 a room ! Thus a six and seven room apart- 
ment can be had for $25 to $30. 

Everything in the food line is reasonable, and some are 
cheap, except eggs. Eggs now are from 40 to 65 cents. 
Living here is cheaper than Des Moines and 30 per cent 
cheaper than San Francisco. 

Taxes are out of sight and will be higher in time. Too 
many freak laws are in force. The state, county and city 
taxes in this city are $36 per thousand. They will tell you 
it is on a 60 per cent basis, and that is the "booster" price, 
the real or earning value is another thing. In addition you 
pay special assessments, light, water, etc. Taxing bodies 
can make a levy for "publicity" purposes under the state 
law. Under this law the county bought palms for Los 
Angeles to place along the sidewalks at a cost of $60,000. 
It gave $36,000 to the San Diego exposition for 1916. It 
gave Hollywood $1,500 to give a show. This is all to amuse 
and entertain the tourists and exploit the climate. Thus 
public funds raised by taxation are scattered with an 
abandon of a college boy with a rich and indulgent father. 
When the tourists become conservative and cease to invest 
lavishly, the burdens will be and are now felt keenly by all 
who have invested. 

193 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Mr. and Mrs. Reaver of Des Moines are on their way 
back from the exposition. 

Dr. and Mrs. Smouse have come for the winter. So has 
Major and Mrs. Byers and Miss Thompson. The major 
has bought a new automobile, young and happy as a boy 
of twenty, Mrs. Byers is compelled to watch him for fear 
he might waste the money to avoid paying an excessive 
income tax to the Wilson administration. They have come 
for the winter. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

THIS city never sees snow or ice hence it is never cold, 
but it is cool at times. You can sleep under covers 
the year round, that is, the nights are cool. The tempera- 
ture changes daily from fifteen to thirty degrees. At mid- 
day it is warm and pleasant and beginning about 5 P. M. 
it starts to get cool. The sunny side of the street is often 
three to five degrees warmer than the shady side, and five 
to ten degrees warmer than inside a dwelling or building. 

This daily change in temperature is brought about by a 
contest between the sun and the breezes from the ocean, 
sixteen miles away. This is the character of the climate 
nine or ten months out of twelve. The rainy season is 
supposed to be in the months of January and February. 
The average yearly rainfall is sixteen inches and nearly all 
of it comes down during these two months. From reports 
it is some rain. The drops, so to speak, are as large as 
hen's eggs. The fall is so rapid that the streets become 
flowing rivers and the water advances over the sidewalks to 
the entrances of the stores. The rain does not fall every 

194 



BY LAND AND SEA 

day, but it may come every three or four days, with the 
sunshine and flowers smiling between the showers. 

The curbs in some places are two feet high to avoid flood- 
ing basements. This causes you to step high and look high 
for ten months out of the twelve. This causes Los Angeles 
people to become high steppers, hence the multitude of 
boosters. This is why you seldom see fat people. They 
are thin in face and form, just the condition for racing. 
Hence the reason so many race after tourists and, the 
latter being slow, are easily caught. If they live here long 
enough they likewise become racers like the natives. 

Now, no climate is perfect, and with the changes in 
temperature mentioned herein, this climate is not perfect. 
In fact, it is very bad for a great many people. Many of 
them have no one to blame but themselves. They do not go 
properly dressed to meet these daily changes in tempera- 
ture, hence colds are frequent and often terminate seri- 
ously. People with tubercular trouble are numerous and 
in every direction. Many are in institutions and many are 
at large. 

Pneumonia is frequent and the cause of many deaths. 
The death rate from this alone is high with all classes and 
ages. In many cases the cause of death given is from a 
weak heart, and both young and old pass away in large 
numbers from this cause as given in the death notices. 
Most people die when the heart refuses to work any longer. 
Circulation is never good when you have no ice and snow 
and winds and blizzards to brace you up and force you to 
get a good foothold on the earth's surface. When with 
such contests you get home to a good fire and a hot dinner, 
you indorse everything President Wilson has said to every- 
one across the water. You feel you are a true sport whether 
you are twenty-one or eighty-one — your hat is in the ring. 

195 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Formerly no fire and no provision for heat was con- 
templated in the residences. Now heat is provided for 
in the later residences. For this reason many older in- 
habitants claim that the climate is changing. This is not 
the case, only their blood is not a good thick red and their 
vitality has been lowered by long residence in a milder 
climate doing nothing. 

The people in San Francisco call the people here 
"Oskaloosans." They mean by this they are farmers and 
reformers and populists, now wearing the garment they 
designate as "progressives," constantly agitating sump- 
tuary laws and fads of all kinds to control and govern 
the way in which the other fellow shall live, act and have 
his being, that he might perchance inherit the kingdom of 
heaven. They want the state divided so as to get away 
from the "cafeteria crowd," as they refer to them. I was 
much amused and wanted to see the cafeterias here. 

They are some eating places, just the same. They 
feed thousands daily. The food is well cooked, whole- 
some and of great variety. It is cheap, and the surround- 
ings clean and sanitary. 

They are patronized by all classes of people who sit 
around and read the newspapers for hours and listen to the 
music. They go out with a good supply of toothpicks and 
become grave diggers on the sidewalks for the particles of 
food that persist in lodging around the teeth. They stand 
around the entrance to read the bill of fare, note down the 
prices, and then go in and order to the dot the amount 
they are willing to invest to satisfy the inner man. 

One day an old gentleman with Uncle Sam's beard 
ordered from the card in front with fixed prices and sat 
down to the table and noted on the back of an envelope the 
items and prices and then ate everything up. He arose and 

196 



BY LAND AND SEA 

approached the cashier and protested that the checker had 
overcharged him. The cashier could not go down and 
iQYCstigate and verify his statement, so she made him cough 
up, not his dinner, but the price. I have not seen him back 
since. I think he was from Nebraska and a follower of 
William Jennings Bryan. 

On another day I noticed an old man with no hair on his 
head making love to a young girl. He let her pay her own 
bill! When she was doing this he glanced around and 
then wiped the top of his head off well with the napkin, 
thus saving laundry bills. 

Thus you see all those nice, pleasant, delicate ways 
around the table and in the home vanish in the cafeteria. 
The gentle, sweet manners that are so pleasing to the 
lady and the gentleman are forgotten or not practiced here, 
and hence with tlhe cafeteria we can never hope to surpass 
the French in politeness and gentility of manners. 



Los Angeles, Col. 

SINCE my last letter on the citrus fruit proposition I 
have made further investigations and find that I was 
not conservative enough in my statements, which were based 
on the statements made to me by railroad men and numer- 
ous growers and owners of orange and lemon groves. I 
have since talked with scientific men and those familiar 
with the situation who have made the climate, soil and 
its adaptability to the different kinds of food products a 
study and I feel that these men are nearer the truth. 

In the first place the ground suitable to grow oranges 
and lemons, tiaey claim, is not worth more than $75 to $80 
per acre. An orange tree will begin to bear fruit in from 

197 

14 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

three to four years. An orange orchard in fine condition, 
that is, the trees healthy, the leaves a dark green, the ground 
well cultivated and favorably located, and water facilities 
good, at the age of 10 years and from that to 15 years 
is worth from $400 to $600 per acre, and no more. This is 
the orchard and land alone without any buildings being 
considered. Some of the orchards have buildings and resi- 
dences costing from a few hundred dollars to thousands of 
dollars. Most of the orchards do not contain more than 
five or ten acres. 

As to the production. A fancy tree, under particular 
cate and most favorable conditions might produce twelve 
or fifteen boxes of oranges in one season, just as a prize 
acre of corn or a prize acre of onions might surprise us. 
My old friend, John Cook, of West Union, la., who is con- 
nected with the St. Paul road, told me two years ago that a 
young man in his neighborhood had just realized $537.50 
from seven-eighths of an acre of onions. Had this hap- 
pened here a beautiful photograph would l.\ave been made 
of the onions and distributed all over the United States. 
But average crops never produce this way, not even in 
oranges and lemons. 

These scientific men inform me that the average orange 
orchards produce only five to eight boxes of oranges to the 
tree, and this is a good crop. They also state that the 
orange and lemon owners have made no money in the last 
three years even based on these modest figures. It is one 
expense after another springing up before you get a crop 
converted into cash. They claim the Wilson tariff bill has 
injured the growers very much, because the New England 
market was turned into a foreign market instead of a 
domestic, owing to its great distance from the Pacific coast. 
The local demand is small. Local grocers tell me they buy 

198 



BY LAND AND SEA 

their oranges for 60 cents a box. from the grower fre- 
quently, without being embellished in fine tissue paper, 
just the plain orange. With the facts in my two letters you 
can readily see that the orange and lemon propositions are 
a millionaire's game. 

They also told me that the lemon was more delicate than 
the orange tree, the danger line being thirty degrees above 
zero. Twenty degrees made a first class funeral; all was 
lost. Say this is not strenuous ! With all the hazards I 
believe they should have some protection, and the Payne- 
Aldrich bill did not grant too much. They also said that 
the heart decaying in the walnut tree was caused by too 
much water at the wrong time. This same condition in the 
orange tree will cause a little black spot to appear in the 
center of the orange, which will enlarge and destroy the 
orange, without affecting the tree like the walnut; yet, out- 
wardly, it may be fine in appearance. You see it takes a 
professor, a chemist, a skilled man to engage in this busi- 
ness and not meet misfortune. 

They also told me that dates could not be successfully 
raised anywhere in California, except on a small area in 
the desert not far from Riverside, and there only fairly so. 

I was anxious to get further light on the Bermuda grass 
plague, and they told me it covered large areas in central 
and southern California. It grows in bunches like swamp 
grass, has a small, hard seed, does not dissolve when eaten 
and goes where the winds bloweth. It spreads rapidly, 
grows everywhere, and is a desert grass. 

Another grass exists here which they regard as much 
worse, growing six to eight feet high, closely jointed, hard, 
and with a small flinty seed which travels like the Bermuda 
grass seed, everywhere, and, strange to say, they call it the 
"Johnson grass." He is the guilty man who brought it here 

199 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

from Africa, and when you become afflicted with it you can 
very properly say, "too much Johnson." 

The two men bringing these two grasses to this locality 
about 1870 were cattlemen, and they were seeking feed for 
their cattle, a grass that would grow on desert land. They 
found what they were seeking all right, but both are 
failures for feed, for both lack the essentials of food 
products, but will grow and prosper here and among the 
tillers of the soil for generations to come. Owing to their 
character and growth they can never be eliminated. These 
grasses invade the orange and lemon groves as well as the 
beautiful lawns of the millionaires. They toil not, neither 
do they spin, and have no beauty, yet they keep everything 
else going with a constant expenditure of money to suppress 
them. 

And if this is not enough to make men humble, law- 
abiding and God-fearing, they must be visited with fearful 
sandstorms instead of snowstorms in the desert lands along 
Riverside, Ontario and other sections thereabouts. Last 
Sunday the highways were made impassable by the accu- 
mulations of sand carried from the fields by a wind travel- 
ing sixty miles an hour, and over two hundred automobiles 
were stranded for the night, some meeting with accidents, 
and others seeking shelter until next day. These storms 
sometimes in a mild form reach as far as Los Angeles. 

On Tuesday evening I attended a banquet of the Iowa 
Association of Southern California, two hundred and fifty 
being present. It met to celebrate the admission of Iowa 
into the union, December 28. Its president is Judge Fred 
H. Taft, formerly of Sioux City and I notice my friend, 
Judge Frank R. Willis, is vice president. Mr. C. H. Par- 
sons, formerly of Clinton, la., is secretary. He is an ideal 
man for such a position, possessing judgment and discretion 

200 



BY LAND AND SEA 

with a fine personality which helps much to make all these 
Iowa organizations and their meetings a success. And 
they are influential because four Iowa men are judges in 
the Superior courts and John J. Hamilton is a supervisor 
at $5^000 per year. John cut his whiskers off and ran on 
the progressive ticket^ but whiskers or no whiskers, he 
could never have landed anywhere in Des Moines. On 
the News he was reforming everybody and everything. 
Out here I notice he criticised the legal adviser of the 
board for strictly construing the law. He wanted the 
people to rule and if they wanted to stand on their heads, 
ladies and all, at once, they should be permitted to do so. 
If the papers reported him correctly, the climate has 
changed John. He is a new John all to himself, for they 
voted against him and intend to abide by the law of the 
land. This is best after all. 



San Diego, Col. 

THIS city like most cities has its boosters and they are 
trying to make it grow, and it is growing slowly. If 
you could buy it for its value and sell it at the prices claimed 
to be its worth, you would soon become a millionaire. 

There is no business here to speak of beyond showing 
tourists from all parts of the country a good time. It is 
purely a residential town and for fear you might be dis- 
appointed the realty men have cut the land up into lots for 
miles around, and some will be vacant during the life of 
the next generation. I priced a residence lot over three 
miles out and was informed it was "only $3,500." I asked 
why so high. "The climate." The wind, air and climate 
never appealed to me as a very substantial thing to put 
your money in because God in his kindness has given us an 

201 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

abundance of all three without money and without price. 
Sometimes position is worth something, that is all ; and tour- 
ists should recognize that climate of all kinds exists here 
by the square mile, and you can enjoy all you can pos- 
sibly use at bargain counter rates if you have the cash. 

At present real estate is dull. Rents in many cases have 
fallen 60 per cent. First mortgages are picked up fre- 
quently at from 30 to 60 per cent discount. Taxes are very 
high, between thirty and forty a thousand. The city at 
the last census was given a population of 39,000, yet it has 
a bonded debt of eleven millions. Much money is raised 
from taxation to be expended for the beautiful, thus to 
please and entertain the tourists for without them all would 
collapse. 

The Spreckles brothers are a power here and own 
much property. As a business proposition they are boost- 
ers to be admired, for they are and have been spending 
millions. They own all the wharfage, lighting system, 
street railway. North island, where the aviation school is, 
Coronado and San Diego hotels, and are heavy stockholders 
in the U. S. Grant and large modern up-to-date office build- 
ings. They did own the water system but sold it to the city 
for $4,000,000. I should say a good deal for them. They 
are building a railroad to Yuma, Ariz., 500 miles, to be 
completed within a year, giving this city the most direct 
route to the east and four hours shorter than any other line. 
It has been in a pocket. Huntington, on the Southern 
Pacific railway, asked all the docking privileges and in- 
tended to make it the city of the south. The people re- 
fused him the monopoly, so he stopped and made Los 
Angeles the end of his line and threw his influence to 
build it up, and it grew and is growing, and has far sur- 



202 



BY LAND AND SEA 

passed San Diego. With the new road completed this city 
will take on new life and become a greater tourist point 
than it has been in the past. 

This city was the beginning of the civilization and 
starting of California. Here is where Father Serra built 
his first mission, locai^^ing it in Mission valley about six miles 
north of the present city. It is one of the richest and 
most picturesque valleyt^* in California. It is not large but 
the scenery and past asst^ciations make it worth while for 
one to stop and gaze up the. valley and see the old mission 
now in ruins, with one room .set aside to sell trinkets to 
visitors from all parts of the world, and contemplate just a 
moment. 

Like Monterey, it is rich in history and connects us 
with the past and with the races ivnd peoples struggling 
as best they could to provide themselx^es with the comforts 
and necessaries of life, having impulse s and desires and feel- 
ings much like our own, and in due time passing away like 
others have done before tJhem, a shadow, a fleeting mem- 
ory. Such is life. 

Here was laid the sceiie of the beauti'ful story of Helen 
Hunt Jackson's "Ramom.-i," the charming Indian girl. 
She was cast upon the sea o f time in a cold world for awhile, 
grew up to womanhood, cod lely and attractiv e, and an Indian 
boy saw and was captivate* d. Mrs. Jackson's beautiful story 
of the simple Indian love: rs appealed to the civilized world 
and made them all famou s. The old and the young by the 
thousands visited the spf »t the past year and the little old 
abode where she was m? irried. It took seven young women 
to wait on the tourists who called from day to day to see 
and buy some little rfiinembrance of the early surround- 
ings of the beautiful Indian girl, showing the deep im- 



203 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

pression the book and its story made on the people. 
Such books and such stories are living messengers of good 
for time to come. They never die and may it ever b^ so. 

You see much in old San Diego and in some cases efforts 
are being made to restore or partially restore some of the 
historical landmarks. Here was located the first jail in 
California, the first grave yard, the old stones still marking 
the graves, and the first church arjd the old mission bells, 
the first brick house, the new \nission marking the spot 
where Father Serra planted th^e first cross. The first fort 
used by Spain, Mexico and the United States was located 
here, also the old Indian sc-hoolhouse, and the old plaza and 
monument where Fremorit raised the first American flag. 
Citizens point out the first palm trees planted, now 140 
years old, under whicb/ are buried six priests, and Patrick 
O'Neil's home, who &,old water for 25 cents a barrel in 
1868. 

A cross, made ouA of adobe, stands on the hill nearby, 
erected by Father S;erra. Adobe; is made from clay, straw 
and cactus juice and baked in the sun. It is cut up into 
blocks and thus tl^e early dwellings were built from this 
material. So whf^n you are here;; meandering around, you 
get inspiration ic'roxn the misty jpast, upon which present 
civilization is built. 

A few miles beyond is La Joll'a, a town of about 2,000 
inhabitants. A beautiful spot, a nd several Iowa people 
live here. The climate is fine, m ore even and delightful 
both for summ.er and winter than S an Diego. It is located 
on a point on the sea. Capt. and Mrs. J. S. Clark are 
fixtures here and are happy and contented. Mr. and Mrs. 
E. L. Sabin are nicely located, and the views inspire him 
to write charming things for littlle people. However, I 
mistrust there is not enough life to stir him on. Young 

204 



BY LAND AND SEA 

people need activity and life and energy around them to 
do real good things. Mostly old people live here and too 
often to retire is to begin to die. All should guard against 
this. Never grow old; get up a scrap over something and 
it will make you feel young. 

Prof. Henry Sabin is located at National City, a town 
of about 3,500 people. He is eighty-six years old, a good 
old age, but at present is quite poorly. He rendered Iowa 
excellent work in its educational efforts as state superin- 
tendent and otherwise. His other son is near him engaged 
in the poultry business. He is going to find out whether 
poultry pays and is keeping books on the proposition. From 
my investigation I fear his salary will not be large, yet here 
is hoping that it will be. 

Mr. James Olmstead and family are here for a while. 
All look fine and are absorbing as much of the climate as 
possible without investing. 

This is the rainy season but one does not mind 'chat 
much. Ten inches in a year will not worry you wiVfa wet 
feet but the inner man might suffer much if f;ven this 
small amount does not come. 



San Diego, Cal. 

THIS is a calm, clear beautiful day after the storm, 
the worst ever, so the natives say. It washed out 
thirty bridges, changed the channels of rivej.*s, washed away 
railroad tracks by the mile, and water from the mountains 
came in such large volumes and such force as to uproot 
large trees and carry them down the valleys. The Little 
Landers have suffered more than all 'che rest for 150 have 
been made homeless, a mother and daughter drowned, their 

205 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

earthly possessions gone forever. Money, clothing and 
food are being donated by the public to sustain life. All 
their other troubles have been mild compared to their pres- 
ent distress. The poor have poor ways. Knowing local 
conditions and possibilities they heeded not. However 
wiser people sometimes are equally bold or reckless and 
suffer likewise. We all pay for the folly of our conduct 
or error of judgment sooner or later. The damage in San 
Diego county alone is estimated at $500,000, which will re- 
quire the issue of bonds to repair the destruction of public 
property. The city of San Diego has stored enough water 
to answer its wants for six years to come. Water storage is 
one of the serious problems of this city for the yearly aver- 
age rainfall is only ten inches. 

The aviation school is located here on North island. It 
is not infrequent to see eight to ten machines up at once. 
There are thirty line men here at a time receiving instruc- 
tioins. If a young man shows no aptitude he is sent back 
other Tvise he is retained until he becomes a skilled manipu- 
lator. Portugal has four students and China has one. 
Who said China was not waking up ? 

The hydroplanes are made by Curtiss and the aero- 
planes are made by Martin. The boys call them land ma- 
chines and water machines. Mechanicians who are skilled 
in special lines of work are here to look after the machines. 
One line will watch one thing only and another set will 
look after another line. The machines are kept in perfect 
order. They are in practice each day, Sundays included, 
a certain number of hours. Records are carefully kept. 
The training is handled as a science, a business ; the object — 
war. 

My judgment is that inside of twenty years they will be 
almost as common as automobiles were five years ago, and 

206 



BY LAND AND SEA 

much safer to handle. The perfection of their mechanism 
is marvelous. Curtiss is now making a hydroplane that 
will carry eleven tons. This means guns, necessary num- 
ber of men and eight hundred gallons of gasoline. The 
results, the consequences of such a machine in the air, are 
fearful to contemplate for both cities and war vessels. The 
accuracy of aim in time will be equal to that of firing from 
a war vessel. It will be finished and sent here before long 
to be tried out. 

The accidents in handling the machines are wholly from 
alighting. They are so skilfully made now that if the en- 
gine goes dead they can be brought to the earth like a bird, 
and with the same grace and safety. The monoplane is 
dangerous and not used here because of the diflBculty in 
alighting. It causes many accidents by its inability to 
glide gracefully at the proper angle; it is too abrupt. An- 
other source of many accidents is trying to perform stunts 
in the air. They happen often on land as well as in the 
air when persons found doing such things are more foolish 
than wise. Here no stunts are performed. It is business, 
straight flying for speed, altitude or changing of course. 
You see every day some very skilful flying both in the air 
and on the water. 

The planes will become cheaper in time like the bicycle, 
motorcycle and automobile, and their safety superior to 
these when handled sensibly. They will then be used to 
carry mail, express and persons in Chicago, in the morn- 
ing, who must be in New York by 4 P. M. We are truly 
living in a marvelous age. I want to live 100 more years. 
Why should any one commit suicide? Put yourself in the 
spirit of the times and enjoy life. 

The "Theosophical Homestead." This is a big name. 
It is Madam Tingley, a genius of her kind. 

207 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

She is located midway on Point Loma. Point Loma is 
a neck of land one to two miles wide and five to six miles 
long, running out into the ocean, forming and protecting 
San Diego harbor. Many residences, a town, golf links and 
a fine clubhouse are located there. Also a lighthouse at the 
point and, on the harbor side. Fort Rosencrans, with big 
guns guarding its entrance against all enemies. Also a 
government wireless station is nearby on the ridge. 

Madame Tingley has about 1 60 acres, a dream of beauty, 
an oriental garden, to please and charm principally men 
with millions or less, and to change their ways and their 
money that they might inherit the kingdom of heaven. She 
works on the theory that they know some of their money is 
tainted and they should get rid of some of it, the more the 
better. She makes them believe that at death they will enter 
another form, be incarnated, and have a chance to thus go 
on until they reach perfection. This generally happens to a 
man when his hair is quite gray and a fog begins to settle 
around his brain. In this condition he begins to feel that he 
would like to be good and wants to progress rapidly, and is 
willing to pay for a fast train. 

Now Spaulding no doubt felt this way and died. In 
twenty-four hours his body was in ashes, cremated. His 
widow and second wife had most of his fortune. The 
children are contesting the will, claiming that such undue 
haste casts a shadow as to the cause of his death. The 
ashes are blank. Mrs. Spaulding, with the money, is said 
to be Madam Tingley's successor, so the fight is on. The 
latter has had other similar fights. But with it all she has 
erected a half dozen beautiful buildings, a Greek theater 
with a temple, all costing not less than $600,000. She oper- 
ates a school, with possibly three hundred students, makes 
them sign contracts to remain four years, pay room rent, 

208 



BY LAND AND SEA 

board and tuition, and pays no salaries. All work for the 
cause of the Lord — Madam Tingley. It is not a corpovation 
or colony, but Madam Tingley. She is the absolute owner 
and ruler over all. All wear uniforms, and architecture 
and furnishings give the surroundings the air o{" the orien- 
tal — and she is the original and only represen'tative of the 
wisdom of the ancients. She owns a theater m town worth 
a hundred thousand where she gives, or has j^^iven by others, 
lectures and entertainments. She is a larg;e woman, keen, 
educated, of fine personality, aggi*essive and about fifty 
years of age; has been married twice, but is now alone, liv- 
ing like a queen. Mrs. Spaulding is large, but just the 
opposite in other respects. They are ready and willing to 
save you. Come. 



San Diego, Cal. 

IT HAS not been long, about fifty years ago, this land 
was only a desert. At Fourth and Broadway streets 
the land sold for 26 cents an acre. Today upon this spot 
stands one of the finest hotels in America, the U. S. Grant, 
built by a son and named after his father, beloved by all, 
and costing about two millions of dollars. It is a fitting 
monument to the dead hero, in architecture, furnishings and 
management. The pages wear uniforms designed after 
the aides to the president of the United States. At the 
time when this was done there was some criticism, but it 
has long since been forgotten. 

The city has a population of from 60,000 to 70,000 
people from many countries. It is located on one of the 
finest harbors in the United States, has many hills cov- 
ered with beautiful homes, with mountains near by, giving 

209 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

it one of the most captivating positions for scenic effects 
of any city in California. 

The climate is ideal. The daily variations are much less 
than in LvOS Angeles, yet in the winter the nights are cool, 
not cold, and the days are balmy and buoyant. It is a 
charming place to spend the winter and I am in love with it. 
The average rainfall is ten inches. The streets are in 
good condition and so are the public highways. I can de- 
scribe the climate and surroundings best by saying that I 
visited the old town this week and found some boys with 
coats off, some wi\';h one suspender and barefooted, shoot- 
ing marbles. You bave seen that before but not in January. 

There is but little business, as it is purely a residential 
town. It is not too .large nor too small. You cross the 
streets on foot with comfort and ease and no fear. No one 
is in a hurry. The majority are leading simple lives, and 
apparently law-abiding and God-fearing. The little busi- 
ness that exists here is not good and has not been for two 
years. Roosevelt will tell you why. There are many vacant 
store rooms and in many cases the landlords have cut the 
rent 50 per cent. Living is cheap and rents are also since 
the cut. There are many good hotels and apartment houses. 
Yet the poor man or woman would suffer much because 
there is nothing for him to do. To him all places and 
all foods are high when he has no money and can get 
none to buy. 

Those who failed to see either exposition in 1916 can 
make a visit here and see an entirely new exposition. All 
the buildings are now closed to be remodeled to receive 
many of the exhibits that were at San Francisco, among 
which are the Canadian, Italian, French and many others. 
Some here will not remain for 1916. On March 1, 1916, 



210 



BY LAND AND SEA 

they expect to have everything in place and a new dedi- 
cation. 

It is located in the city park, a tract of ground consist- 
ing of 1,400 acres, which viewed, from a natural standpoint 
is one of the most picturesque parks in the United States. 

The exposition is using about 400 acres of it. 

The main entrance is lined on each side by acacia trees, 
beautifully trimmed, with walks and buildings back of it. 
Tropical plants and shrubbery and trees artistically ar- 
ranged, make first impressions most pleasing and rest- 
ful to the mind of the visitor. 

There are walks between the buildings that lead to the 
back and there on every hand you find surprises of foun- 
tains, statuary, columns, shrubbery and trees, and vines 
and flowers creeping in, through and around all. You feel 
you are in a garden and you are in a garden with the air 
saturated with perfumery, and the surroundings cannot 
help but make you feel glad that you are alive. The 
authorities have made the most out of the capital they pos- 
sessed, both as to grounds and buildings. They passed me 
through the buildings, which, when remodeled, will be worth 
another visit, for it will be a new and better exposition. 

All these things are being done to make the city grow. 
Really one family is back of the spirit of this movement — 
the Spreckels. They built a Grecian theater on the ground, 
permanent and fireproof, at a cost of $15,000. They then 
installed a magnificent pipe organ at a cost of $25,000. 
Then they hired an organist for two years at a high sal- 
ary, so every Sunday afternoon throughout the year the 
people can go and be inspired by the finest music in the 
land. A few days ago they made gifts of it all to the city 



211 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

of San Diego. A few men like this can make any city 
grow over night. Des Moines has never been so blessed. 
You never hear a native speak of an unpleasant thing or a 
defect existing here. If you meet an obstacle of this kind 
they will look blank and much surprised and say^ "That 
never happened before." They look so innocent you be- 
lieve them. After it has happened to you two or three 
times you think of the wolf story. 

They even transact their business much as the gambler 
does, taking no account of the capital invested. If a gambler 
bets you a dollar he counts it lost, gone the minute he drops 
it on the table. Now if you cover his dollar and he wins, 
you lose. Here he declares he has made two dollars and 
you cannot convince him otherwise. After all is this not 
about the truth? So San Francisco counted the money put 
into the exposition. What she found in her sack at the 
close she made — all profits — and let it go at that. This 
spirit is all over California among the natives. Catch a 
Yankee doing business that way. The Californian smiles 
and drinks a glass of wine between earthquakes. The 
Yankee jumps on with both feet and you never hear the 
last of his loss — he even takes it home to the bosom of his 
family to impress his wife that she ought to do without a 
new pair of shoes or a new hat. The native Californian 
is smart and you have to watch him, but I like him just the 
same. He is game and hangs on until you push him over- 
board. 

"After all it is grit that makes the man and the want of 
it the chump." 

Many Iowa people are located here. I met Mrs. Cul- 
ver and her daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen are here mak- 
ing them a short visit. 

212 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Richard Griffith and family reside here and Mr, Dan 
Finch and wife are making them a short visit. 

Mr. L. Harbach and family are here for the winter. 
Mr. Harbach works early and late breathing the pure, 
clean air that abounds here on all occasions. He appears 
to be contented and happy. 

About ten to twenty thousand tourists spend their vaca- 
tions here during the year. 



San Diego, Cat. 

THE milder the climate the more mysticism, semireligious 
thought, social and experimental economics are 
planted, grow or rather exist and feed upon the weak and 
visionary human beings who come near or under their influ- 
ences. Thus you see all our great religions had their begin- 
ning in India, on the Euphrates and Palestine. The climate 
of southern California is very similar to Palestine as well as 
its scenery and food products. There you get the oranges, 
olives, nuts, etc., and so you get them here. 

Here you have socialism, the I. W. W., San Ysidro, 
Madam Tingley and her theosophy and so on. Here you 
meet individuals bareheaded and barefooted obeying some 
command from above. They would not prosper very well 
with the snow a foot or so deep and the thermometer mak- 
ing good strides for the cellar. They are wise in select- 
ing locations where the Lord can find them alive at all 
times of the year, requiring substantially no fuel and a 
small quantity of foods which grow and come to maturity 
every month in the year. 

So the San Ysidro or Little Landers have a problem to 
solve of which I wanted to know. I may need it some day. 

213 

15 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The theory is that a well man can live and support a family 
on an acre of ground. I was unable to find out whether 
they meant a Roosevelt family or one not quite so large. 
Also whether twins or triplets would disturb or mar the 
prosperity or happiness of the home. 

The town or colony is located fourteen miles from San 
Diego and one mile north of the Mexican line. I was 
accompanied by two friends and when we alighted it was 
so unusual to have strangers arrive that we attracted con- 
siderable attention. A very bright boy about ten years 
old approached us and asked us what we wanted. We told 
him we were on the hunt for some Little Landers and after 
buying him 10 cents' worth of candy that boy was ours, 
and he knew the town, its gossip, its troubles, its failures 
from every viewpoint. He said "the originators of the 
scheme had abandoned the place and left nothing behind 
but troubles and he wanted to get away, too." That lad 
is all right. He and I could be bosom friends. Yet I 
failed to get his name, because older people took us in 
hand and drove him away. The truth was he was brighter 
than them all. 

They started with five hundred acres and about six 
hundred people reside there in all sizes and shapes of dwell- 
ings erected from all kinds of material. They all are poor, 
theoretical, impractical people who did not know at first 
whether potatoes grew on trees or in the ground. The 
individual was smart, but the community was ignorant, 
hence in their town meetings oratory and resolutions flowed 
like water in the Nile at flood time. 

The president is a former professor of psychology in 
Vassar College. He is a big lazy fellow about forty years 
of age, the son of a preacher, and does not believe in reli- 

214) 



BY LAND AND SEA 

gion, marriage or anything else. He seems to be vigorous 
and healthy. He owns two acres and has a fine truck garden 
well cared for and personally he looked very much like a 
hard working man. He ran away from us and darted 
into a house located on one corner of his two acres cov- 
ered with canvas. We noticed a fairly good looking buxom 
woman about forty years of age enter the same place and 
shortly a piano was in action. We learned that she was 
from the east and she and the professor, in the opinion of 
the neighbors, looked after each other too closely. She 
claimed to be a short story writer for eastern magazines. 

The truth is lack of water and money at the start put 
them to thinking. They now have water in abundance at 
reasonable rates by making the cost, $25,000, a burden on 
their holdings. The climate is so mild they can produce 
early vegetables which command a fancy price. One man 
and his wife by hard work and good management sold 
$1,200 from two acres last year. They are the only ones 
we could learn who made any thing beyond a living. No 
one can tell you how the balance pulled through. It is 
simply a poor man's grave, and began as a real estate 
man's speculation. 

We then drifted into Mexico in the town of Tia Juana. 
Gamblers and horsemen have built a fine race track across 
the line near this town. It is operated by the sports of the 
United States. They have about four hundred horses in 
attendance and all the wheels and games known to the 
trade. It will last one hundred days, including Sundays, 
and the wheels and games run day and night, with all the 
relishes on the side. I am truly glad this sport has been 
eliminated from the United States. The sports from New 
York, Chicago and everywhere are there, and you are safe 
in the sunshine if you mind your own business. 

215 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

My friends desired to see the town and I was willing. 
We came to a building and we made inquiry and found 
that it was the fort, which is also used as a jail. We asked 
permission to see it, which was a foolish thing to do, for it 
was the next day after eighteen unfortunate Americans 
near El Paso lost their lives after being promised protec- 
tion. The general could not speak English, so he said, and 
he asked us if we could speak Spanish. We said no. Then 
in a bitter, sarcastic, venomous manner he addressed us in 
Spanish, and I lifted my hat and gave him a respectful 
bow and beat it for the American line. I then recalled 
what Professor Wilson has lately said about being on for- 
eign land and in water over your head, and I made up my 

mind that my American citizenship is not worth a d n. 

My Irish, Scotch and Dutch blood began to boil because 
I feel that every American citizen should be respected so 
long as he is a gentleman and obeys the laws, and espe- 
cially when he is invited on foreign soil by a concession to go 
about and spend his money. 

Later I met a Mexican merchant, a gentleman, and 
told him our experiences, and asked him the reason for it. 
I supposed they were friends of Villa, but he said they 
were for Carranza. He said he did not understand it. 
Neither did I. The truth is we are hated everywhere and 
respected nowhere, and why.^ Let us talk less and think 
more. Give justice, do justice and demand justice, not in 
well chosen words, but in action when ignored. Action 
must be sustained by strength and power, and we have 
both at our command. If we are to be a nation let us be one 
in the fullest sense and meaning of the word. Commer- 
cialism makes a nation strong and wealthy and often leads 
to friction with competitors, and, with nations, into war. 
To command and be respected makes commerce and com- 

216 



BY LAND AND SEA 

merce must be guarded and protected by the strong arm of 
the nation, and the two arms of every nation are its navy 
and its army, sustained by the moral and intellectual 
strength of the people. The United States should put its 
house in order. 



San Pedro, Cal. 

SAN DIEGO was deprived of any mail for about one 
week on account of the floods until the superintendent 
of mails got permission from Washington to send it down 
by boat. It came about 9 o'clock in the evening and, of 
course, after so long a period a large quantity had ac- 
cumulated and time was required to distribute it. The Grant 
Hotel had over twenty guests leaving next morning at 8 
o'clock, hence they were very anxious to get their mail be- 
fore leaving, the women especially. The hotel was nice 
about it, and made arrangements with the postmaster to let 
it have its mail next morning at 6 o'clock, and it was rushed 
to the hotel for handling and distribution. This required 
time. We had to leave the hotel at 7:30 in the morning to 
catch the boat. Two clerks began work on two large sacks 
full of letters, placing them in the boxes to whom they 
belonged. The desk was lined up two deep. 

A large, fat Jewess came from Los Angeles a week 
before by automobile, hence had to return by boat. She 
called one of the clerks to the desk three times to explain, in 
the time it takes some women to explain such things, that 
she was not angry because she did not get the room or ac- 
commodations her husband wanted her to have, and he was 
not offended either. 

217 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The guests were nervous and angry at this woman's 
interruptions. I wanted to turn her over and spank her 
and drive some of the material below into an empty head, 
at least increasing the quantity if not the quality. 

After all she taught us a good lesson: not to inject our 
private, and especially immaterial matters, into relations 
and positions which materially affect the interests, welfare 
and pleasure of our fellow travelers. The mail was not 
fully distributed and we all had to leave not in the best of 
humor. On a long journey just this little indiscretion would 
have spoiled much of her pleasure. Always be a good 
fellow and go with the crowd, never failing to be courteous 
and polite and mindful of the rights and feelings of others, 
a gentleman and a lady, and you will have one beautiful day 
after another in traveling. 

Why do people get sick on the water.'' We went on 
the Yale, a fine boat, formerly on the Atlantic. About four 
hundred people were aboard. After a few minutes you 
could imagine that you were on the front of a battlefield, 
the dead and dying lying all around you. Some were not 
very prepossessing, especially the women. When a woman 
gets sick in public she is truly and really sick, and for 
once becomes unconscious of her appearance, especially 
when she is running for the railing or a bucket, with a man 
often trying to keep up and hold on, going through many 
physical contortions trying to reduce her weight. This 
must be pleasant for fat women and distressing for thin 
women. To my mind there is no doubt she succeeds in 
reducing her weight and tearing her feelings at the same 
time^ 

Men fare no better, but men make no claim to beauty 
or pleasing ways. One large man began to step high and 
see things, his feet and head became light at the same time, 

218 



BY LAND AND SEA 

and over he went on the floor. This a woman would not 
think of doing because her intuition would inform her what 
was approaching. This illustrates her superiority to man 
in some respects and possibly her fitness for participating 
in governmental affairs. One old man, large and pompous, 
with a big watermelon front, was as serene as a dove, ex- 
cept he was talking all the time largely on political ques- 
tions. He had a large, coarse face with some intelligence, 
and I'll venture that his diet consisted largely of pork, 
beans and cabbage. Why was he not sick? Is this sea 
sickness not largely a matter of imagination, sympathy, 
and permitting your feelings to get control over your think- 
ing machine.'' The Christian Science people have a happy 
thought if it works. We all might borrow it, if it does, 
when we take a trip on the water. 

This harbor is owned and controlled by the city of Los 
Angeles, and the management is bum from start to finish. 
Los Angeles took it for fear the Southern Pacific might get 
it and it is too bad it ever touched it. Politics is in absolute 
control and this is why it is so badly managed. The help 
is inefficient. They know nothing concerning the dock, a 
stranger and a traveler being driven to find his way as best 
he can. I wanted to be transferred to the Elder dock and 
I was directed to the office of "Information." He disputed 
with me and on investigation found I was nearer right than 
he was. He then directed me three blocks away. I then 
went to the Yale dock and I was told to claim my trunk 
when it was tossed out. 

I then hired an old Irishman and his express to haul 
my trunk to the place designated and found it locked. After 
two hours I was informed that I was at the wrong place. 
I should have gone to the outer dock two miles away. My 
Irishman kicked, saying it was too muddy. He demanded 

219 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

75 cents. We agreed on 50 cents, but because of the delay 
he wanted more and I paid him and it was easy to dis- 
charge him on the spot. I then appealed to the Southern 
Pacific for information and help. It called up a responsible 
transfer man who sent a wagon at once and removed me 
and my baggage to the proper dock for $1, charging me 
nothing for their attention. Now this is my first experience 
with municipal owned docks and I want no more in mine. 
Political bodies should never own public facilities of this 
character, as well as many others, but should regulate them. 
The public has the power and can exercise it. If the pub- 
lic agents are subject to influences under private ownership, 
why are they not subject to the same influences when 
owned by the government? If crooked in one place they 
are crooked in the other. If the people fail or are unable 
to select proper persons in one case, they will in the other. 
So why burden the people with further transactions and 
greater responsibility ? 

And here there is an inner and an outer dock. The 
inner does nearly all the business because it is near some 
valuable real estate owned by private parties, so it is 
charged. It stimulates that portion of the town. This is 
perfectly natural and just what you would expect. If pri- 
vately owned and publicly regulated, the management would 
be far superior, and the element of gain entering would 
cause private ownership to push for business and with effi- 
ciency would do the business in a businesslike way, properly 
to serve the public. These long-haired agitators and profes- 
sors who think in book form without practical knowledge 
and experience in business affairs will direct us to one spot 
only, the rocks, which is expensive and may end in total loss. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Brown are looking fine and have 
settled down for the winter at the Coronado. 

220 



BY LAND AND SEA 

On the Seas (Sixth Day). 

LOWER California is divided into Northern and South- 
ern California, governed by two separate governments. 
The northern part in which Tia Juana, the race track town, 
is situated, is looked after by Governor Canta, a Villa 
adherent, so our treatment when at the fort is now plain. 

About 50,000 people engaged in stock raising and min- 
ing, reside in the two states, which are very rich in copper 
and some other minerals, including silver. One copper 
mine is very extensively worked on the gulf just opposite 
Magdalena Bay. It is owned by the Rothschilds of London 
who have invested some fifty millions in its equipment and 
employ 10,000 men and there is ore enough in sight to 
keep this force at work for the next 1,300 years. The El 
Progress© silver mine owned by San Francisco parties is 
likewise valuable and has been worked for a like period of 
time. On the gulf near the point of Pichilingue, the 
United States government obtained a concession from the 
Mexican government to store coal there for its fleet. It has 
erected buildings and, in times past, has stored there fully 
300,000 tons. Also a party of men from Cincinnati, Ohio, 
organized the Pacific Marble Company, which has extensive 
mines it operates near this point. 

Magdalena Bay has unusual interest to Americans and 
is located on the ocean side a few miles north from the 
point. Here is where our beloved Admiral Evans rested 
with the American fleet on his famous trip from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific ocean to give the boys a little practice work. 
The Mexican government gave its consent to our navy for 
this purpose and it is an ideal place for such a purpose- 
It has one entrance, protected by islands, very deep, ex- 
tending along the coast about twenty-five miles and into the 
interior about twenty miles. 

221 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Near this point and Magdalena Bay, the Japanese tried 
to get a concession from the Mexican government and, I 
mistrust, have some understanding or secret agreement, for 
I have been told more than once and from different sources 
that Japan controls two hundred thousand acres near this 
locality. At the time when this subj ect was attracting pub- 
lic attention I remember we protested, but protests do not 
count for much these days, apparently. It is the ability 
to enforce your demands as a nation that receives proper 
consideration from the other side. Beautifully written let- 
ters fail to make the impression they once did, as we now 
know quite well. 

Here is where our country through President Wilson 
innocently did Mexico much harm. I have talked with many 
mining men, Americans and natives, business men, lawyers, 
American and natives, commercial travelers and persons 
familiar with the Mexican people, their mode of life and 
manner of doing business, and all agree that we have done 
harm and not good. We undertook to make them over, a 
foolish thing to undertake. Huerta should have been given 
a chance, they claim, to have restored order in Mexico, be- 
cause he had the ability and his assistants respected and 
obeyed him. Personally he was a strong man. At the 
same time our country should have put an embargo on all 
arms being shipped in from this country, or any other, 
and the trouble would not have lasted long. Instead we 
favored one side, then the other, shipped arms and muni- 
tions to every one and the butchery of natives and foreign- 
ers continued without interruption. First one side was up 
and then another, and we have been putting our money on 
the green and then on the red, each time guessing wrong. 

Now we have it on Carranza. He is not a bad man. 
He has some ability, is about fifty-five years of age, and is 

222 



BY LAND AND SEA 

surrounded with a cabinet of younger men, every one of 
whom is aspiring to be president. He will never be able to 
weld them together because he is not strong enough. He 
issues orders and decrees and they are ignored, if it is the 
wish of his cabinet. Such conditions will not restore order 
and bring about peace. Time may reveal the individual who 
is strong enough to command and get obedience, and he 
must be strong and possess an iron hand, but that individual 
is not in sight. 

Indians have joined the army and were supplied with 
guns and powder and the like then deserted for mountains. 
In due time they would return to the army but without their 
equipment. They would re-enter or join over, get a new 
supply and then be off to the mountains again. They have 
done this many times and it is estimated they have supplies 
enough stored away to last a generation — much of which 
is due to our past policy, a policy which at best can be con- 
sidered no more than meddling in the local affairs of a 
foreign country. 

The Indians make up about 85 per cent of the popula- 
tion, but those mixed with other bloods rule the country. 
They are the generals and politicians. The masses refuse 
to work only when they fail to steal enough to keep them 
alive. No thought is taken of tomorrow — ^just today. It 
has been so for generations in the past and will continue 
to be so for generations to come. The climate and sur- 
roundings, or environment, have much to do with this con- 
dition of the people. They cannot and will not elevate 
themselves, and improvement must come and can come 
only through elimination, the survival of the fittest of other 
peoples and races, and as to time, this means future genera- 
tions. If not our people, then the Japs or some other race 
or races. In this way many countries have seen races come 

223 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

and disappear, and the United States has been no excep- 
tion to the rule. This is the way nations grow and become 
strong with time. 

The economic conditions in Mexico are frightful. There 
is no business worthy of the name. Banks have ceased to 
do business. With a friend who conversed in Spanish flu- 
ently we visited many business men^ inspected stores and 
factories in many lines. Stores are almost empty. People 
are idle with nothing to do. Every person who was brave 
enough to take sides and got on the wrong side lost every- 
thing. One druggist supposed to have been worth $100,000 
had everything confiscated, and is in the insane asylum. 
A cracker manufacturer increased the price of his food 
products when the raw material increased in price. The 
commandante sent for him and abused him like a dog, called 
him names, and then sent for his chief and told him to 
take him out and shoot him down like a dog. No value is 
placed on life — just a cheap commodity for the soldiers to 
destroy. He was rich and influential, and by quick work 
of his friends his life was saved. At the first opportunity 
he closed his factory, and thus saved future disputes. So 
you see it everywhere. My friend is a commercial traveler, 
who has been making Mexico for years, and he informs me 
this condition exists everywhere. Even on this boat, nine 
exiles from Guadalajara, one a prominent attorney, are re- 
turning after an absence of two years. They are friends of 
Carranza. The attorney's feet are getting colder the nearer 
he approaches his destination. He may be shot on his ar- 
rival. The safe course is to be poor and have no influence 
or opinions. One young Mexican lady stood on the deck 
and with a sad, drawn face looked at her native land and 
said: "I hate it. I do not want to go back." There she 
stood, looking at the floor of the ship almost in tears. 

224 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Her people at one time were rich. Her father was a 
banker and merchant of influence. He died and waa buried 
at Los Angeles lately. The mother and another daughter 
are returning with her to Guadalajara — to what, they do 
not know and their lot is truly sad. 

Yet, I never saw so much money. I saw it stacked on 
tables a foot high. Fives, tens, twenties, etc. My friend 
bought $200 for two five dollar gold pieces. It was Car- 
ranza paper money. He needed it in his travels. 

Money is worth what it will buy, its purchasing power. 
Labor is measured in the same way, not what is paid, but 
what the amount received purchases in the open market. 
This money is twenty to one. A five dollar pair of shoes 
brings $100. A one dollar cap, $16. One apple, 50 cents. 
Raisins, $12 per pound. I paid $2 for two picture cards, 
Mexican money of course. Beans are $1.60 a quart and 
scarce, yet are the main food. Now wages go up in the same 
ratio and you do not mind it. But what do you say of the 
man out of a job with no money, of the landlord and his 
tenant with a lease, of the banker collecting his interest.^ 
This is why the banker quit business. With all the necessi- 
ties imported to these peoples on a gold basis, and the 
masses idle or at war in the army and but little of a produc- 
tive nature being produced, how can you avoid having a 
feeling of pity for this most unfortunate people? Death 
and starvation are on the track ahead. 



Mazatlan, Mexico. 

A BIG Irishman at San Diego under some steam because 
of the flood sold me the ticket for this trip. Some 
Irishmen will become convivial under a stimulant. He knew 
I refused to buy a ticket on a slow boat taking a month to 

225 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

make the trip so this was a new steamer, the best in the 
service, which would make it in twelve days, and I bought 
the ticket and after getting out on the water find that it 
will be twenty to twenty-five days before I get to my desti- 
nation, so I think he got my money with malice afore- 
thought. 

Before leaving I stayed over night at San Pedro. It 
was late in the afternoon when I inquired for the best hotel 
and was directed to the St. Francis. No one was in sight 
when I called. Shortly a slim woman appeared and I told 
her I wanted a bed. I was taken upstairs and shown a room 
and I asked the price and was informed it would be 76 
cents. I closed the deal. Later, about 10 o'clock, I was 
preparing to retire when a gentle knock at my door caused 
me to open it, and I saw standing there a big Swede 
woman who informed me in broken English "that she and 
her man were out late and just got back and was informed 
that one of her guests had rented a room to a man and she 
thought she would come up and see what the man looked 
like." I said, "Here I am, size me up, although not in 
condition to receive callers." She was lost for a minute and 
then said, "Men come in here sometimes without baggage 
and go away in the morning without paying the bill." I 
told her that was a new one to me and I was glad of the 
information and would try and adopt that system where I 
could in my future travels. However, to help her to have 
a good night's rest I would pay then and there and the old 
lady smiled all over and examined the room to see that 
nothing was lacking for my comfort, and bade me good- 
night. 

The boat on which I engaged passage is named the 
"Elder" and is making its first trip from San Francisco 
to Balboa. It is a 1,700-ton vessel and has been forty-two 

226 



BY LAND AND SEA 

years in service, and is loaded with 1,600 tons of freight 
and forty-one passengers and the crew. It can carry 250 
people. I have heard people say they wanted to take a 
slow sea voyage for their health. Here it is, nothing fast 
about it. It is clean and looks well and sails like a bird. 

Captain Jessen is eighty-two years of age, hale and 
hearty and, like most all sea captains, genial and pleasant. 
He has been on the water over sixty years, is married, with 
a wife still living, and no children. At this age he will go 
upon the bridge with only a muffler around his neck, no 
overcoat, and stand there for ten and twelve hours, perform- 
ing his duty with an ever watchful eye. You feel safe 
under such management and conduct. He is in love with 
his work, being comfortably well oiF, and this is why he is 
faithful in the performance and discharge of his duties and 
responsibilities. Now, in this period, few laborers and 
officers are in love with their work. Big pay and little work 
is the desire. 

I am seated at the captain's table, on his right, with a 
beautiful young Mexican girl between us. He anticipates 
her every want, so the services of myself and a bright young 
man across the table from me are seldom needed. We are 
simply students in hospitality. 

When a lad I used to read Josh Billings. I remember 
he propounded this question, "Why does a dog turn around 
three or four times before lying down?" I never could 
solve the problem until I got on this boat. The other 
evening I caught myself doing the same thing before getting 
into my berth. I have a large cabin which has room for 
three, provided all are in bed at the same time or arise 
one at a time only. Mine is lower three, or rather the one 
I use, as I have the room alone. It is on the floor, no doubt 
about that. The other two are higher and narrower. For 

227 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

beds for real comfort, do not mention it. I need no physi- 
cal exercise to develop my muscles. I now understand why 
the poor dog does not become attached to its bed. Any- 
thing is good enough for a dog. Our transportation facili- 
ties are made and operated with a view of quantity — num- 
bers — rather than comfort. The trip is 3,000 miles and I 
pay $130, all it is worth. 

Most of the passengers are Mexicans. One is a lawyer, 
located at Guadalajara, with his family. The revolutions 
caused him to migrate two years ago to Los Angeles. He 
feels it is safe for him to return and resume his business 
now, which is a good omen, unless he has erred in judg- 
ment. They all long for peace and a cessation of further 
hostilities. This is the wish and desire of the better classes. 

There is a large trade starting up between California 
and the different countries along the western coast. We 
have machinery, merchandise, iron and articles of different 
manufacture to be delivered at some twelve ports, and 
some are destined to countries in South America. The young 
American men are studying Spanish and the young Spanish 
men are studying French and English. In the near future 
comiiierce of a large volume will grow up with the United 
States from this common understanding brought about by 
the knowledge of these three languages. The desire to 
know these languages is spreading rapidly, and is even in 
progress on this ship, for they have their books with them 
and devote much time to study. 

We passed the Gulf of California Tuesday. This penin- 
sula or point forming the Gulf of California is 700 miles 
long, rough and jagged, and at places only fifty miles wide. 
A few people inhabit it, engaged in stock raising, mining 
and dairying. The gulf is 200 miles wide in places, in 
which it is almost large enough for a hostile fleet to hide. 

228 



BY LAND AND SEA 

Here is where Francis Drake, the English pirate, would 
hide with his booty after making a raid along the coast 
in the seventeenth century. Now he has a monument erected 
to his memory in Golden Gate park at San Francisco. So 
goes the world. When a breeze comes up from the ocean 
the inhabitants call it the "Cromwell breeze." 

This town is located in the state of Sinoloa, Mexico. It 
has a population of about 20,000 and is typical of all 
Mexican cities. The state has a population of about 200,000 
people engaged in agriculture, stock raising and mining. 
The state has a shore line of about 400 miles, very rich in 
minerals and possibilities in other lines, but needs develop- 
ment. They produce sugar from cane, largely used for home 
consumption because of the American tariff. They make 
large quantities of rope made from a fiber that grows in 
abundance. Also crude rubber is produced, and corn in large 
quantities similar to Argentine corn. The cattle are shipped 
out on the hoof, not many being consumed there. They 
manufacture soap, wagons, etc., for their own use. Ship- 
ments are large of dried shrimp and fish. They export a 
large quantity of garbanzo, a dried pea. This is a large 
industry. The Spanish language is spoken. The military 
runs the government the same as elsewhere in Mexico, this 
state being no exception to the rule. Graft exists here as 
elsewhere. The strong assume the function of public affairs 
and hold on as long as they can. You are at the mercy at 
all times of the power in control and you may be down and 
out tomorrow. 

The climate in the northern part is good and healthful. 
The southern portion of the state is low and unhealthful 
and malaria is bad. Mexico has a long period ahead before 
it gets stable government. 



229 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

On the Seas (Twelfth Day). 

AFTER leaving Mazatlan with 20,000 gallons of alcohol 
made in Mexico, we proceeded to Manzanillo, 300 
miles away, arriving there at 6 o'clock in the morning, as 
the sun was appearing over the mountains, a most beautiful 
and picturesque setting for a city. It is located in and 
around the mountains at the foot and on the side of them. 
We anchored quite a distance away for several reasons. 
This city once had a dock costing $100,000 which the 
natives burned to keep the Americans from landing and 
taking their city about two years ago, so the goods are 
taken ashore on tugs the same as at Mazatlan. There lies 
a war vessel half buried in the water and here at Manza- 
nillo two war vessels remain above the water and the only 
objects around the place where you observe smoke and 
some activity. The bugle call, inspection and many of the 
forms observed by war vessels are complied with here. It 
is amusing to see the men lined up for inspection. Some 
are bare-footed, some without hats, some short and some 
long, a motley collection of knights, so to speak. The ves- 
sels were mounted with three-inch guns and mild looking 
in every way. 

On shore we heard the bugle and drum also and they 
were active up to the time we left. The soldiers had con- 
fiscated the only hotel in town and all the private residences 
they needed to house the troops for the Carranza govern- 
ment. Some time ago an American was in a room on the 
second floor and the soldiers in a room underneath, practic- 
ing, they reported, shot through the ceiling, and the Ameri- 
can passed on to the other country. He was a commercial 
traveler helping to push the commerce of the United States 
in accordance with the wishes of our present administration. 
He simply met with an accident in the line of duty. 

230 



BY LAND AND SEA 

This is one of the largest cities in Mexico. It has about 
1,600 people and several millions of mosquitoes. They are 
as large as birds. They live and have their home just back 
of the city in a lagoon of fresh water coming down from 
the mountains with no means of escape. Fish exist here 
and many die when the water evaporates, thus making an 
elegant stagnant pool in which the mosquitoes breed and 
flourish. They are now declaring their dividends, and ty- 
phus and other fevers are rank. Yet in the face of these 
conditions, on our arrival the health officer, the comman- 
dante and their assistants appeared in a small boat with 
the Mexican flag attached flying to the breezes, with mat- 
ting and cushions in their end of the boat for them to sit 
on and a pad for them to step out on when entering our 
boat for inspection as to our health. We all passed in due 
form and they departed as they came, with dignity and in 
state. Martial law now governs Mexico, and the com- 
mandante represents the Carranza government, the absolute 
authority over cities. 

Here we lost all our exiles bound for Guadalajara, the 
only railroad running from the coast to this city. All the 
rest of us ate nothing and drank nothing from this town, 
purely as a matter of choice. The exiles wanted to leave 
the same day for fear of microbes, but we learned no train 
would leave for three days, when a Carranza military train 
would go, upon which they were granted the right to ride. 
They told us they would have to sit up for three days or 
sleep on the ground. An old lady, fully sixty-five years old, 
was with them. I saw her shed more than one tear. She 
was a refined, gentle looking soul, and my heart went out 
to her, yet she spoke the Spanish language only and was 
in her native land — at home. She will soon be beyond it 
all and at peace, I am sure, with Him who watches over all. 

231 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

A large cut is made through the mountains which gives 
the city connection to the interior and some very rich coun- 
try. But, like all Mexico, this town is the same as the 
rest, dead. 

While waiting in the harbor we saw many things. Two 
large whales entered and left after several hours' visit as 
we were going. Two swordfish tackled one of the whales, 
and we saw a terrific fight for a while. A swordfish has a 
long projection from its mouth filled with sharp teeth like 
a saw, which it draws across the throat of a whale, and they 
always travel in pairs and attack the whale at the same time, 
and not infrequently kill it. In this instance it made its 
escape, but enough of the whale was left on the surface of 
the water to keep about thirty seagulls eating for quite a 
while. Thus one life taketh another, either for food or 
revenge ! 

We saw sharks playing around our boat as it waited in 
the harbor for the freight to be unloaded, and many kinds 
of fish. There must have been a thousand shrimps in a 
body, which would swim like a diamond square altogether 
in one direction and then instantly right about face to a 
man and swim in the opposite direction ; in other words, they 
would swim up the hill and down again and again, so they 
were neither up hill nor down hill. All would turn around 
at once. Did they act on orders — a Joff're or a von Kulp? 
They must have done so. Giving a drill to the drum and 
bugle sounds on the shore. We also saw a matarroUa, or 
blanket fish. It was flat, six feet across and shaped like 
a kite. Its mouth is underneath. It embraces the object 
of its attack, and does not let it escape. It was indeed 
strange, and this southern sea, as calm and gentle as a 
small river, is filled with life in all shapes and forms. 
One day we saw a school of porpoise fish, a half mile wide 

232 



BY LAND AND SEA 

and almost a mile long. They would spring out of the 
water three or four feet high and make a jump ten or 
twelve feet and then dive into the water. With this large 
body covering such a large space it was most interesting. 
They were trying to clean their bodies of barnacles, which 
accumulate on them in salt water the same as ships. Whales 
are likewise afflicted, and come to the surface for fresh air 
and to clean their bodies. A whale has a throat one and 
one-half to two inches in diameter, which is protected by a 
screen, and an enormous mouth. It takes in a large volume 
of water containing small fish, squirts the water out through 
a hole in the head and swallows the small fish thus caught, 
the screen protecting it against swallowing large obstacles 
and, of course, from trouble in gathering its food. It is 
a mammal, and hence breeds and gives sustenance to its 
young. I have seen many whales, some fifty or sixty feet 
long. 

And this is the land of the alligator, warm water and 
a warm climate, and they are thick the same as the shark 
and swordfish. The swordfish will also attack man. Small 
boats they have cut and severed the legs of men. 
Shark fishing is carried on to a limited extent by Mexicans, 
for the fins, which enclose tendons that the Chinese consider 
a delicacy. These are shipped to San Francisco. The bal- 
ance, which would make a good fertilizer, also fish oil, is 
wasted, as it is tossed back into the water after severing 
the fins. 

We have been within a few miles of the coast all the 
way down. It is very mountainous, the mountains extending 
far into the interior, and in some places almost inaccessible. 
After leaving one town you may go three or four hundred 
miles before reaching another town, and it will be small. 
Acapnlco was our next town, located in such a way as to be 

233 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

cut off by mountains, and is considered the hottest place on 
the coast. It has a population of about 4,000 people. Beans, 
limes and bananas are the principal shipments. People in 
warm climates never did work and never will work, and with- 
out energy and progress perfection is impossible in anything, 
not even in governments, regardless of the form. Our next 
stop was Salina Cruz, the first town with a dock to receive 
a ship and the last one we visited in Mexico. It has about 
a thousand inhabitants and its appearance and commerce 
is similar to the other towns we have visited. 

It is hard to do any kind of business without money, 
when the country is torn by one revolution after another. 
It is now hinted that a new one will start before long to 
establish young Diaz in the presidency. If this materializes 
it will only add one more and the people will have to work 
with a new kind of money. All gold and silver have left 
the country. Nothing but fiat paper is the medium of ex- 
change and so long as Carranza is in power will possess 
some value, at present twenty to one of gold. Soldiers are 
hired by the different factions for $1.50 per day and paid 
with this paper money, also provided with food and some 
clothing. Many are bare-footed and almost naked. The 
industrious are forced to take this money for their products 
or be shot. This has led to a deplorable state and in time 
will be worse if cessation of hostilities does not ensue. The 
higher class does not consider it ended by any means. They 
have about lost all hope and want the United States to inter- 
vene. This is only about fifteen per cent. The Indians do 
not care. The half-breeds are the politicians. The soldiers 
and half-breeds run the country. They are grafters and 
hard to handle, being proud and vain, and fond of authority 
and power. 



234 



BY LAND AND SEA 

I have seen some of the most beautiful sunsets I have 
ever seen in my life. I saw one tonight. It was grand 
in appearance and magnitude^ surrounded by all kinds of 
clouds that traverse the heavens. It dropped, peeking 
through the clouds, taking a last look at its last day's 
work, and it was well down. We are five miles out at sea, 
yet it is 90 degrees above. It is hard to sleep. I put on 
my B. V. D.'s today; as the Jew said, "them things what 
you button vay down," hence the name, and I am still hot, 
and we have a thousand miles south yet to go. I shall be 
glad when I turn my face northward once more. 



Salina Cruz, Mexico. 

WE arrived here early in the morning just as the sun 
was creeping up from the eastern horizon and send- 
ing his rays in every nook and corner of this picturesque 
village, of about one thousand people, located back at the 
foot-hills on a fine harbor, protected on both sides by piers 
extending out to the ocean's edge, protecting it from the 
maddening seas from without. 

It has extensive, modern and expensive docks. The 
town is controlled by the English oil interests, the Pearsons, 
London, who have done all things well from the handling of 
freight to providing a pleasant, healthy place for their 
employees to live. Large, portable derricks are placed on 
the dock for loading and unloading of vessels; nothing is 
lacking to enable the employees to handle all kinds of 
freight with ease and dispatch. Millions of dollars have 
been expended here for this purpose. 



285 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

The Tehauntepec Railroad was built by the same inter- 
ests, running from the docks to the Atlantic side. Ware- 
houses of large capacity were erected, also. 

This was all done and paid for by the Pearsons, and 
President Diaz, on behalf of the Mexican government, took 
these improvements over from the Pearsons by paying them 
in bonds issued by the Mexican government, and they are 
now government property. It is estimated that the sum 
involved was close to fifty millions. 

All went well, for the Pearsons had a steamship line 
plying the Pacific to the Orient, gathering up freight and 
transferring it over this railroad to the Atlantic side for the 
markets in the East. The freight handled by this concern 
yearly ran from five hundred thousand to one million tons. 

Now all has changed. The building and operation of 
the Panama canal closed all the warehouses and made many 
millions of capital invested in the dock wasted capital, be- 
cause the business transacted at this point now is largely 
local, and the town simply a trading point, yet it is the 
cleanest and most attractive town on the Pacific Coast of 
Mexico. 

Carranza is in control here and is raising an army to 
subdue the governor of the state of Oaxaca. His bare- 
footed soldiers, half clothed and half fed, are entraining, 
and they are a sight to behold. Their mothers and sweet- 
hearts are here to see them start. One lone cannon is on 
a flat car. The soldiers are lounging on the ground, the 
women examining the heads of the soldiers for lice, and 
when a good-sized one is found, it takes the place of food. 
I felt a little nervous here because of President Wilson's 
"watchful waiting." I did not linger around much among 
those who were playing with their guns. The horses were 
very poor. They looked as if they had not seen an ear of 

236 



BY LAND AND SEA 

corn in a month. The Mexican will not work the land 
further than to raise just enough to live, to exist. Those 
who have done better than this have had their accumula- 
tions taken away from them by force or exchanged for 
worthless money, hence poverty, absolute distress, want, 
starvation, prevail everywhere, to end in riots and death, 
all because of their inability to agree on a titular head. 
Diaz was such a head; Huerta was a fair successor and 
should have been so recognized, but no one in sight has 
arisen strong enough to restore any government, either good 
or bad. 

During Diaz' administration he conceived the idea of 
preserving the Aztec language and its literature, so he 
founded and endowed a school at Tehauntepec, not far 
from here, on the Tehauntepec railroad. He employed 
teachers, and this language, the native tongue, is being 
taught at that school. They also teach the simple trades 
and industries of this primitive race in weaving, basket- 
making, pottery, and so on. This was a noble impulse 
on his part in an effort to preserve the history and customs 
of this primitive people. 

About seventy-five miles southeast of here, sixty-three 
American farmers purchased from the government, in a 
rich valley, small tracts of land, formed a colony and began 
to improve the property. They did this about five years 
ago. They had accumulated about thirty thousand dollars' 
worth of personal property. President Wilson finally in- 
formed Huerta that he would not be recognized and would 
have to go. Huerta sent a message to these pioneers that 
if they valued their lives they would have to leave at once. 
They gathered up a few pieces of clothing, yet some were 
half dressed, and departed for safety, leaving all their per- 
sonal property behind. This was two years ago and they 

237 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

have not seen or heard of it since^ and so went their horses, 
cattle,*hogs, etc., through "watchful waiting." 

These Americans had a right to be there and it was 
the duty of this government to protect them in their rights 
or cease to be a government. All civilized nations encourage 
their citizens to pioneer, and this has been so throughout 
the ages, for upon such pioneering commerce has been built, 
and commerce makes nations strong and rich in all those 
things that enter into and are a part of human nature; 
it is civilization against barbarism, light instead of darkness. 



San Jose, Guatemala. 

ON our departure from Salina Cruz, our beautiful Mexi- 
can maiden, who had been attending a Catholic school 
in San Francisco the past four years, left us. No member 
of her family met her, but a Catholic sister met the boat 
looking after young girls, took her in charge to keep her 
over night and start her home safely next morning. And 
here you saw the spirit of Christianity, in one stranger 
toward another. 

And here we saw the effects of war. On our arrival 
about two hundred men, women, children and dogs were 
on the dock to see the boat come in. Some of them re- 
mained all day, and incidents happened which I shall never 
forget. Our cook made up a package of stale bread, spoiled 
meat and the like, making quite a bundle. On the dock 
were three women, two having babies in their arms, and 
almost naked from poverty, two boys, one about fifteen 
years of age and the other younger, and three poor, dis- 
tressed looking dogs. The cook made up quite a bundle 
and when he appeared at the window, all arose, watching 

238 



BY LAND AND SEA 

for a toss-out, and out it went, the larger boy grabbing it 
to run away, but he squeezed it too hard and it broke, 
scattering its contents on the ground. The mothers, babies 
in arms, the boys and the dogs all in a heap scrambled 
for a portion of this food. All, starving with hunger, 
fought each other, with the dogs participating, for this 
rejected food. This was sad and a pitiful sight to witness, 
all suffering and yet each blameless, including the dogs. 

The other incident was, our crew went up town and 
came back drunk, including the dock pilot. One fell over- 
board and came up sober, strange as it may seem. We 
had dead soldiers all around us, yet we were starting for 
the sea a mile deep, and I was unable to swim a foot. The 
dock pilot backed off and started out and bang ! he went up 
against the granite dock. He backed off and out we went 
without inspection for damage, or even prayers, and right 
then and there I became a teetotaler for all men occupying 
or performing a public duty. 

This town is one of the most important trading points 
in Guatemala, having about fifteen hundred people. All 
the republics in Central America have a high tableland run- 
ning down the center, with low, marshy land on each side 
facing the oceans. San Jose is low and not very healthy. 
A railroad runs from this port to the top of the tableland 
where is located Guatemala, the capital, a beautiful city of 
about one hundred thousand people. The republic has 
about two million inhabitants, about eighty per cent Indians, 
the same as Mexico, and the balance mixed with other 
nationalities. The natives are lazy and immoral and in- 
temperate. They live like the Mexicans, for this day only, 
and take no thought of tomorrow. Venereal diseases affect 
about sixty per cent of the people. Like all tropical people 
they are very dark, or copper-colored, one of the provisions 

239 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

of nature to enable them to withstand the intense heat, and 
they are thin and small of stature. 

They are engaged in raising coffee, corn, barley and 
other grains, horses, cattle and sheep. The coffee is the 
principal staple, but this is largely in the hands of the Ger- 
mans. The Germans own nearly all of the good coffee 
plantations from Mexico to Honduras. The Germans main- 
tain a college at the capital, to get in closer touch with the 
natives for commercial reasons. Its exports and imports 
reach about twenty-five millions a year, yet it has not begun 
to be developed in its natural resources. The soil is very 
fertile, and wbeat, tobacco, sugar, bananas, fruits, rubber, 
besides many valuable kinds of woods. 

The climate on the tableland is delightful the year 
round, but the trouble with this republic is its government. 
It is copied after the United States but it fails to get the 
same results. The curse is politics and graft of all kinds. 
These two cause many revolutions and the administrations 
change sometimes over night. Five attempts have been 
made on the life of the present occupant of the President's 
chair. He is guarded day and night by three or four 
thousand soldiers. He has made his escape at times by a 
narrow margin. His predecessor was shot. He does not 
hesitate to cause some of his enemies to evaporate. He lives 
in constant fear of being shot, dynamited or poisoned. 
His mother prepared his meals up to the time of her death. 
These things, taken in connection with earthquakes, which 
occur nearly every day and sometimes half a dozen a day, 
make the ruling of this little republic no easy j ob. 

When coffee plantation managers want laborers to gather 
their crop they simply hire the commandante to get them 
say, one hundred men. He will charge for this service, say, 
twenty-five dollars a man and one hundred men will cost 

240 



BY LAND AND SEA 

the planter twenty-five hundred dollars, and in addition he 
pays the man about forty cents a day. Should any man 
refuse to work it is optional for the commandante to shoot 
him for disobeying orders or let him go. In this way the 
natives are made to work. In one form or another this 
graft permeates the administration in all its branches. 
Taxes and privileges are handled in a similar manner. You 
are at all times at the mercy of the administration and 
permitted to succeed or ruined as the administratoin sees 
fit. It behooves you to see little and say less. 

On one occasion a young man from Costa Rica was visit- 
ing the Temple of Minerva. He remarked that it would 
have been better to have expended this money in the cause 
of education. A friend of the president heard this remark 
and it cost the young man eleven months in the penitentiary. 
They maintain a dungeon to put political enemies in, also. 
On one occasion , one of his friends, a rich old man, gave 
offense and he was arrested and placed in the dungeon and 
kept there for one year without knowing why he was there. 
He was almost starved, compelled to sleep on the ground, 
and not permitted to communicate with anyone or even 
have a change of clothing. At the end of eleven months 
he was released and his friends and relatives failed to 
recognize him for his hair had grown down his back and 
his beard extended to his lap. They took him to a barber 
before they permitted his wife to see him. 

On one occasion, in 1883, during Cleveland's administra- 
tion, an American citizen stepped off the boat at San Jose 
to look over the town. He was arrested, thrown in jail and 
ordered to be shot in a few hours. He pleaded to be per- 
mitted to be returned to his boat. The commandante re- 
lented, however, and ordered that he be given a hundred 
lashes on the back. This brought the blood. He went to 

241 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

the boat and when passengers were told the facts they 
shot and wounded the Commandante. 

President Cleveland was notified and he compelled the 
government of Guatemala to apologize to the man for his 
American citizenship and pay him one hundred thousand 
dollars in gold in thirty days. This was done. And up to 
this administration American citizenship has been respected. 
Now it is not. I hope it will be again. 



Amapela, Honduras. 

OUR next stop was at Acajutla, Salvador, a small town 
with an active volcano belching forth fire and smoke 
just back of the place, ever reminding us all that the earth 
is still in the process of making, and is not yet finished. 

Here we lost another charming young woman, a bride, 
just returning from her honeymoon to London with her 
husband, an English consul. She said her home was at 
the foot of this volcano, yet she was not afraid, and of 
course her husband was a gallant soldier and followed, for 
she was rich. Why not ? 

Salvador is long and narrow and rough, yet with rich 
valleys. The land is divided up into small farms. The 
people long ago ceased to fight and have revolutions and 
are busy cultivating the soil. The yearly trade balance in 
favor of this republic is nearly four millions of dollars. 
Nations are like individuals, if they sell more than they 
buy they in time become rich. So with this little republic, 
likewise copied after the United States in its government, 
is a prosperous country. It has a population of about one 
million seven hundred thousand inhabitants. Education is 
compulsory, but the schools, like Guatemala, are largely 
located in the towns. 

242 



BY LAND AND SEA 

It is rich also in gold, silver, copper, iron and other 
minerals. The climate is similar to that of the other 
republics, being delightful on the tablelands. 

Here we bought a steer, as we were short of meat. It 
was put on a tug and the sea was rough. Like nearly all 
of these ports you are compelled to anchor often quite a 
way out, for most of the towns have no docks, and so it was 
in this case. The steer was sea-sick. It lay on the bottom 
of the boat and I was anxious to see how it was to be taken 
on board. A rope was placed around its horns, a boom was 
lowered, and up went the steer towards heaven, not moving 
a tail or batting an eye, and when it was high, with a 
beautiful blue sky for a background, it was swung in and 
dropped in the hold. When this was going on the natives 
on the tug below cried out with joy, "Bull fight." Thus 
their Spanish-Indian feeling spoke. 

Our next stop was at La Union, Salvador, a good trad- 
ing point. Here we found a good dock. We took on large 
quantities of freight, especially coffee. The harbor is good 
and this part of the republic is making great progress, its 
only war vessel being converted into a freighter, showing 
the wisdom and foresight of the people. 

Up to this point we had a large army of seagulls, extend- 
ing back for half a mile, and here they turned and retraced 
their steps for the north. It was getting too hot. One day 
it was ninety degrees six miles out on the ocean. Our boat 
was built for the Alaskan trade and was unfit for tropical 
climates, hence our meat spoiled and was tossed overboard, 
to the delight of the seagulls, and you know it must have 
been hot to have them desert us under such circumstances. 
However, instead came a bird similar in shape but dark in 
color, like the natives, clothed by nature to withstand the 
climate. In the timber you could see birds of beautiful 

243 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

plumage, but they sang not. Lions would move as if worn 
out, showing no life nor energy ; so with all wild animal life. 
If the climate and surroundings had this effect on wild life, 
why not on the life and energy of man.'' They do, and this 
is why the natives fail to progress, and more energetic 
people crowd them off and they in turn also fall in the 
same way and pass into history. It is one of nature's laws. 
It has ever been so and so it will remain. Here you get the 
alligator, the shark, and the large, clumsy turtle. The fish 
caught are even mushy. The grain and flavor found in the 
fish of cold waters you do not find here. In other words, 
they are flabby. 

And then we came to Amapela, Honduras, the most 
interesting town we have visited. When we anchored and 
whistled we saw leaving a clean, odd, well-painted village, 
several boats which held back until the health officer per- 
mitted us to do business. When the signal was given they 
started. The scene was inspiring. The town is located 
on an island. 

There were five boats. One had two oarsmen, one had 
four, one had six, one eight, and one had ten. The one 
with ten attracted my attention. In architecture it was 
the very picture of the boats I had seen in books of Caesar's 
time. The oarsmen stood up, five on a side. The strokes 
were uniform, slow and dignified. Here was a locality 
twenty-five hundred years behind the time in transacting 
business. In that boat I could see Cleopatra with Mark 
Antony by her side, most gracious and obliging. Near by 
was the stern and exacting Julius Caesar, taking in the situa- 
tion, and not far away was the jealous Brutus — all cap- 
tives on their way to Alexandria. Cleopatra was reclining 
showing her shapely foot with the golden slippers, her 
form encased in a beautiful gown, with a rope of pearls 

244 



BY LAND AND SEA 

around her neck, and crowned with magnificent j ewels, with 
these strong men prisoners going into captivity, toys in her 
grasp to do her bidding, and so it has always been. Why 
does woman want more — the political franchise — to crush 
and direct the affairs of state in any other way than she 
enjoys now? Some things we never understand until it is 
too late. 

Honduras is rich and its riches are undeveloped. It 
is the most backward of them all. Its government is similar 
to the others. So is its climate and the topography of its 
country. 

It has a population of about one-half million inhabitants, 
engaged in raising tobacco, oranges, sugar, limes, coffee, 
rice, beans, horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs. 

It has fine woods, like mahogany, both hard and soft. 
About eighty per cent of the people are Indians with char- 
acters and dispositions similar to those of Guatemala. An 
automobile road goes from the Pacific side to the interior, 
this being the only republic having no railroad connection on 
the P^acific. 

They brought us four thousand hides and other freight. 
The Germans OMm the town. The German government, 
through corporations, appoint young men for consuls who 
represent these corporations. They sign a contract to work 
for ten years at one hundred pesos per month and room, 
but without board. In time they become lonesome, marry 
native girls and thus become fixtures. This is the. way 
Germany beats all other nations extending its trade. We 
appoint old, broken-down politicians, ship our goods in 
foreign bottoms and then wonder why our trade does not 
grow faster than it does. We should not be deceived, but 
rather be ashamed of our methods, and reform. 



246 

17 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Puntarenas, Costa Rica. 

WE arrived in the morning at Corinto, Nicaragua, just 
as the sun was peeping up over the horizon, yet the 
natives, as is their custom along the coast, were out to bid 
us welcome. The location is low but near are the mountains, 
with isolated peaks, some being volcanos, all adding to the 
beauty and grandeur of the surroundings. The cocoanut 
palms were conspicuous with tropical foliage and flowers in 
abundance, and with the unique architecture of the buildings 
and odd structures of one kind and another, made the 
sight interesting. 

Nicaragua had another interest to me. I had under^ 
stood that the United States had possession of the govern- 
ment and was collecting its customs, giving forty per cent 
to the government and sixty per cent to the creditors. To 
confirm me in this belief I noticed a war vessel anchored 
out aways, which was to be relieved during the day by the 
Denver, from Panama, the Cleveland taking its place at the 
canal. I saw marines in the city. They told me this condi- 
tion had' existed the past two years. 

I called on the American consul to get the facts. Im- 
agine my surprise when he told me that our government 
had nothing to do with collecting the customs; that about 
two years previously a revolution started to oust the presi- 
dent from power and he called on the president of the 
United States for protection. President Wilson ordered 
our war vessels to proceed to Nicaragua, and about one 
thousand marines landed and marched to the capital to pro- 
tect the president, and the war vessels stood by, ready for 
action. This state of affairs has continued since, except one 
war vessel remains and about two hundred marines. The 
truth is a New York banking firm advanced about two mil- 
lions of dollars to the Nicaragua government to build a 

246 



BY LAND AND SEA 

railroad from its capital to the Pacific coast. The adminis- 
tration was about to be ousted and this firm was anxious 
about the bonds and appealed to our government to protect 
its claim and this is what was done. The United States was 
using its power to collect a private claim, and the only 
creditor so favored anywhere in any country. Foreign 
creditors by this process were being left in the cold because 
of troubles at home. Some day a settlement must be made. 
Our people in Mexico were pleading for protection in vain. 

The climate, soil and topography is very much like the 
other republics with a similar population with the same 
habits and characteristics. It has a population of about 
seven hundred thousand, engaged largely in mining and 
agriculture. Its crops are the cereals, tobacco, coffee, 
bananas, sugar, cocoa, and all tropical fruits. Valuable 
woods, medicinal plants, horses, cattle, mules — gold, silver 
and other valuable minerals abound here. 

Its foreign commerce is about fourteen millions of dol- 
lars. Its manufacturing amounts to but little, simple domes- 
tic articles, so that its exports are the raw products of the 
soil and mines. 

Education is free and compulsory. It is here the same 
as the other republics, the educational privileges are largely 
in the towns and the country is neglected. Intemperance 
prevails in all these republics. Wages in all lines are small. 
Living is cheap and unsatisfactory because inefficient and 
unreliable — they are Indians. The exchange market is 
against all these countries from twenty to forty-five to one 
of gold, yet this advantage does not stimulate them to pro- 
duce and overcome this obstacle. 

The Catholic religion predominates in all these repub- 
lics. It is very strong. There is very little activity on 
the Pacific side. Nearly all the railroads have been built 

247 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

on the Atlantic side. The United Fruit Company confines 
its activity to the Atlantic side. Railroads are being built 
on the Pacific side and, with stable governments, devel- 
opment would be rapid, because the countries are rich in 
every way. But stable governments cannot be built with 
such a people in such a climate. It does not seem to be 
the plan of nature. Even flowers, when severed from the 
root, collapse in a very short time, showing they do not 
possess the vitality the flowers possess in the cold climates. 
That which is accomplished worth while is done by con- 
stantly infusing new blood from the colder climates. 

Through here some day the Nicaraguan canal will be 
built. This is wise because in the next fifteen years Pan- 
ama canal will reach its capacity, and in case of obstruc- 
tions another water way should be provided. 

Costa Rica joins this republic on the south and is 
the most stable and progressive of them all. It is just 
the reverse of the others in population. Out of the four 
hundred thousand inhabitants only about twenty per cent 
of them are Indians. Education is compulsory and free 
as in the other republics. The banana is produced in large 
quantities along the coast, for this fruit needs much mois- 
ture. In the temperate section they raise coffee and fruits 
and the cereals on the table lands. They produce all the 
tropical fruits, coffee of fine quality, about ten million stems 
of bananas, cocoa, hides, rubber and valuable woods, gold, 
silver and other minerals. They are engaging extensively 
in poultry and dairying, the Panama canal in its operation 
giving them a fine market at good prices. 

The capital, San Jose, is located on the table land, 
and is a town of about thirty thousand people. It is be- 
coming quite a winter resort. The climate, however, is 
delightful throughout the year because of the elevation. The 

248 



BY LAND AND SEA 

government owns the railroad on the Pacific side touch- 
ing the coast at Puntarenas, which is developing into quite 
a port. This republic has settled down to business and 
has not had a revolution for a long time. 

Earthquakes abound in all these republics^ are frequent 
and sometimes severe. Many of them have active vol- 
canoes, some of the peaks being three miles high. They are 
rugged and impressive and create some beautiful scenery. 
The land, when fully developed and controlled by proper 
and stable governments, will make one of the finest spots for 
tourists on the western continent. The possibilities, under 
favorable conditions, in a commercial way are very great, 
and one of the rules is, that if natives do not make the best 
of their opportunities, others will. 



Balboa, P. R. 

WE arrived in Balboa in form and were permitted 
to enter according to the customs thereof. Our 
baggage was inspected by Mr. Stevenson and his assistant, 
two very pleasant gentlemen. The United States hire and 
pay these men and all duties collected are turned over to 
the Panama republic. Roosevelt as president obligated the 
United States to many things in negotiating for the canal 
territory. The location of work and the rights of individuals 
involving millions are being disposed of in a way that may 
last for a generation. This work is handled by a land 
commission composed of four men, two from the States and 
two from the Panama republic. They draw $9,000 a year 
each for their services, so they are in no hurry to close up 
disputes, but the taking of evidence is one endless chain and 
even the commission disputes within itself, it is so essential 

249 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

to make time. We also agreed not only to pay the $10,000,- 
000, but $250,000 per year so long as we own the canal. We 
do other things. We print and handle the postage and pay 
the Panama republic 40 per cent of the receipts. We agree 
to redeem their money at 50 cents on the dollar, and it circu- 
lates on this basis, otherwise it would be almost worthless. 
We locate men at the ballot boxes in elections to see that a 
fair count is made. We exempted Panama City and Colon 
in the grant, but reserved the right to look after the sanita- 
tion of both cities and, with other things, you see we are in 
with both feet. You can appreciate this when you know 
Panama republic is 600 miles long, has a population of 
about 400,000, 60,000 of whom are in Panama City, and 
30,000 in Colon. 

On the Pacific side there are three cities separated only 
by streets, Balboa, Ancon and Panama City, the two former 
owned and governed by the United States and the latter 
belonging to the Panama republic. Balboa has the adminis- 
tration building and the docks and homes for some of the 
working men. Ancon has the officers, hospitals, clubs and 
Tivoli hotel, own6d and operated by the United States. The 
United States owns everything and does all the business. 
It operates commissaries, one for the whites and one for the 
blacks, furnishing all kinds of merchandise and foods which 
it sells to employes, ships and their crews at wholesale, plus 
10 per cent. Others were permitted to buy at one time but 
the republic of Panama objected and the practice ceased so 
they are compelled to buy of the merchants in Panama City. 
A United States laundry is operated in the same way. The 
hotel charges $6 a day and up, but government employes 
get half rates. The services are fair only, but the best you 
can get. The colored women take in washing in competition 
and every day in the week is wash day and you are all sur- 

250 



BY LAND AND SEA 

rounded, no matter which way you go, with a white brigade 
as the people wear white clothes extensively. Men look nice 
in their duck suits. 

Houses everywhere rest on posts about six feet above the 
ground and all marshy places are being filled by the gov- 
ernment. Streets and drives are paved in and around the 
hills, making the place quite attractive and many tourists 
come here with no fear of malaria or yellow fever, yet the 
rainfall is from sixty to seventy inches per year on Pacific, 
and 120 to 130 on Atlantic. The rainy season begins in 
April and lasts for six months. It simply pours, for I saw it 
rain one afternoon in the "dry season." 

The government is doubling its dock capacity, which is 
necessary to take care of the business. Everything you see 
is well done and with a view of permanency and on a large 
scale. Its cranes, derricks and appliances are the latest, and 
best and meet the demand. 

The canal zone is divided into four districts for civil 
administration only, the governor appointing the magis- 
trates, marshals and police officers in each. If anyone is 
dissatisfied with a decision he appeals to the district judge; 
if still dissatisfied he can appeal from the district judge to 
the Federal court of the United States at New Orleans, La. 
Governor Goethals has ruled the zone with an iron hand. 
Obedience to his rules and the laws governing the zone are 
substantially enforced in all lines, and hence he is not quite 
so popular here as he is in the United States. Misdemean- 
ors are annoying because of different jurisdictions in the 
three towns with streets only for division lines. Hit a man 
and cross the street and smile. Some friction naturally 
arises under such conditions with all classes of people to 
deal with, of many nationalities, and the laws and ordi- 
nances and rules are not always in harmony. 

261 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

Panama City is a busy place and is made so because of 
the enormous expenditure of money by the United States 
and because the canal ends near by. The people have 
no life nor energy to do anything, the same as all humanity 
similarly situated in hot climates. Some are naked, many 
barefooted and poorly clothed and housed, and many sleep 
in the open the year round, steal, beg and often go hungry. 
They now and then make a few pennies and a human being 
can exist on little when climatic conditions are favorable, 
but no ambitions ever stir them. Even fish at their door 
are safe, because they are too lazy to make an eflPort. 

The Chinamen are thick here and operate most of the 
saloons, the curse of any poor people. It drives them lower 
and the saloon is doomed only when civilization advances. 
The common people live in pens, a whole family in a small 
room, and you will see all the actions you might observe in 
watching your pig pen. The higher classes govern and ex- 
ploit the lower and the multitude is too poor to skin, so to 
get money to run the government a tax is levied on all im- 
ports. A license to do this or that is charged. A sign over 
your business front is taxed. Of course extreme poverty 
leads to immorality, hence diseases and crime are all here. 
A couple of friends and myself drove through "Coco Grove," 
or the red light district. You did not have to go into a 
house, but the sidewalks and streets had all ages, sizes and 
shapes looking for men. I saw the United States uniform 
everywhere, to my regret, many under the influence of 
drink, unaccountable for many things they were doing. 
These things undermine an army and make it less efficient, 
but what can be done about it? Things are worse here 
than anywhere else in the zone, but this is headquarters 
for the administration of the zone, making Colon a much 
better place but less important. 

252 



BY LAND AND SEA 

The Washington hotel at Colon is a fine fireproof build- 
ing on the Atlantic, well managed, and a nice place to stop, 
except it is European table d'hote only, $2.75 per day for 
your meals alone, unless you order extra, and rooms $4 and 
up for a place to sleep. It is well located, however, 
large with high ceilings and fairly well furnished. The 
government is losing money on the enterprise, but it is the 
only place to stop and was a necessity properly to care for 
officials on the canal, and cheaper places are maintained for 
the laboring men. The government is encouraging matri- 
mony. It charges no rent for its residences, and bachelor 
apartments are likewise free ; also fuel, light and water. 

The Panama canal is the heart of commerce for the 
world. In ten or twelve years its full capacity will be 
reached, making the Nicaragua canal an absolute necessity. 
I believe the last slide of any consequence has occurred 
and little trouble in the future from this source will hap- 
pen. The Culebra cut is nine miles long. On the right is 
Contractors hill, on the left Gold hill. They are very high 
and extend back for a great distance. When the canal was 
supposed to have been completed, stands were built on each 
of these hills for a long distance with the purpose of sup- 
porting the earth and trusting that future slides would not 
occur. The stands did not hold and the worst ever oc- 
curred. It is estimated that 9,000,000 of cubic yards of 
dirt from these two hills for a half mile back pushed down 
into the canal. This occurred last October and up to date 
about one-third of this dirt has been removed. As it is re- 
moved the dirt back of it takes its place so that fully com- 
pleted this menace will be removed, hence the dangers of 
future slides are remote and of small consequence because 
the hills have been materially reduced in size. Small vessels 
can now pass through the canal, but it is the opinion of 

253 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

those familiar with the situation that the canal will not be 
open for general traffic before July 1, 1916, and when 
opened, will stay open. 

This great undertaking is the outgrowth of the building 
of the Panama railroad in 1850 by three Americans. The 
volume of business handled by this railroad attracted atten- 
tion everywhere, especially among the French. It obtained 
a monopoly from the Columbia government and the French 
were compelled to buy this road before they could proceed 
with the canal project. When acquired the French began 
action, never realizing that the building of this railroad 
cost thousands of lives from malaria and yellow fever. The 
mosquito was ignored by them. They were extravagant and 
wasteful in their undertaking in addition to these two diffi- 
culties they ignored. They lost 30,000 workmen and we 
lost 6,000. 

With hope and enthusiasm they proceeded, bought ma- 
chinery and equipment on a large scale and employed thou- 
sands of men, who died by the thousands. They raised and 
expended in one way and another nearly $300,000,000. 
Graft was everywhere. Waste ate into the funds. With 
(lisease and death the French company went bankrupt and 
indictments followed. The United States began to take an 
interest in Nicaragua and the French gave up hope and 
wanted to sell, and thus we came to be the owners in the 
manner and way all know. It is now conceded that the 
assets obtained in the $40,000,000 purchase was worth in 
tangible form not less than $30,000,000 to the United 
States. 

It is done and for us to operate, protect and maintain 
with all the attendant dangers. We have fortified it with 
about one hundred guns, some sixteen-inch. It will take 
ten or fifteen thousand soldiers to police it. The locks, their 

264 



BY LAND AND SEA 

electrical operation and all^ are an accomplishment which 
has been fully explained by many writers and its comple- 
tion is something of which any civilized nation need not be 
ashamed. Built without graft, with the finest ability dis- 
played and the most advanced business methods used both 
in its construction and operation, the canal is something of 
which all mankind in this age can be proud. 



Colon, P. R. 

AS we glided along on the Pacific we noticed the geese 
starting on their journey toward the north to escape 
the tropical heat. How fortunate and wise they are, going 
north in the summer and south in the winter, enjoying life 
with all food supplied by nature as no other living thing 
apparently does. Sometimes I wish I were a goose. They 
are wiser than we think. On stopping to feed in their 
flight they always station sentinels to remain on guard while 
the others are eating, that no danger might come to them, 
and they seldom make mistakes. The sea gulls left us be- 
cause it began to get hot. A dark bird similar in size and 
shape took its place, and finally the buzzard replaced it, 
dark, black, ugly, slow and lazy like that portion of human 
kind living under the boiling sun. 

The Panamans flock to the towns and toil not, except 
to gather day by day food sufficient to sustain life. Country 
life they abhor, hence the source of all wealth is neglected, 
ignored, and naturally poverty on a large scale exists every- 
where. You can always point out exceptions and some in- 
dividuals, small in number, enjoy wealth through conces- 
sions and commercial pursuits in domestic and foreign trade. 
City life with its extensive social evils and almost univer- 

266 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

sal drink habit prevent the people from advancing from 
present to better conditions. They are materially better 
off as a subject people than they can possibly be by self- 
government under which one faction after another exploits 
the masses for personal gain. All the life, energy and im- 
provement you see here belongs to and is directed by for- 
eigners. Foreigners supply new blood and new life from 
time to time and thus overcome the natural obstacles in the 
way, otherwise they would become in time as the natives, a 
lazy, indolent people incapable of positive results. 

The Panama exposition is naturally a small affair. It 
could more properly be designated the United States expo- 
sition, for it has made about all the displays shown. The 
object of this exposition, I understood, was to please the 
President of Panama and to build up trade. Our govern- 
ment has made a big display in geological lines, guns, equip- 
ment and munitions of war and the department of health 
from all viewpoints. English alone describes the articles 
and purposes, yet this people as a body speak Spanish. 
Commerce, objects of barter and trade, articles of manufac- 
ture and the things Panama raises and can make and what 
its soils will produce, likewise the same as to the United 
States, are nowhere to be seen. This effort on our part 
is a waste of both time and money, yet our representatives 
are pleasant gentlemen and have placed in position the 
things assembled in a pleasing, attractive manner. They 
have extensively shown how passports, letters, treaties, etc., 
are prepared and executed by the United States, including 
engrossed copies of our constitution and the declaration of 
independence, and the pictures of prominent individuals as 
well as their signatures to different documents from time to 
time. About 80 per cent of what is there is foreign to 
the purposes of the exposition, yet congress appropriated 
$32,000 to push our trade in Central America. 

256 



BY LAND AND SEA 

This land will raise bananas, cocoanuts, vegetables of all 
kinds, cattle, hogs, poultry and possesses valuable timber 
and minerals. Foreigners raise the bananas and cocoanuts, 
except those that grow wild. God in his infinite wisdom 
caused some fruits and foodstuffs to grow wild, otherwise 
these people would starve. Yet eggs are 70 cents a dozen, 
chickens 80 cents a pound, and so on. Beer is 50 cents 
a quart, all soft drinks three times what they are in the 
United States. This is caused from the fact that the natives 
are too lazy to work and of course produce but little of any 
thing. The government must live and public officials must 
have funds, so in addition to what the United States pays, 
an import duty is levied on about everything that comes 
in and when they want more money an export duty is levied. 
You would think the high prices would cause the natives to 
get a rooster and a hen anyway but they are too lazy. They 
hang close to the borders of the canal zone to catch a few 
pennies tossed out by the tourists and canal employes. 

Cristobal is owned by the United States and adjoins 
Colon, owned and governed by the natives. Owing to a 
large fire a few months ago the city is being rebuilt largely 
and is much more modern and pleasing in many ways. 
However to succeed in business here is a struggle because 
of high taxes and the burdens placed on enterprises of all 
kinds by the government. It is no place for a live, up-to- 
date young man or woman. 

The Washington hotel is beautifully situated, facing 
the sea. The army and navy people gave a dance in costume 
on Feb. 19, which some young Panaman people from 
Panama City attended. Our boys were in white uniforms 
and looked fine in every way. Their wives and sweethearts 
were in attendance, some dressed beautifully, and most 
of them looked very attractive and pleasing to a fellow on 

267 



ALONG THE PACIFIC 

the outside. I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Taylor 
of Emmetsburg, la., a beautiful young woman spending 
the winter here with her aunt and she was having the time 
of her life. These dances at Balboa and Colon are the only 
diversions for the army and navy people. They hate this 
country and are glad to get back to the United States, the 
women especially. The soldiers have to work hard. 
Goethals has them building roads, cutting out the under- 
brush, filling marshes and so on and all are thoroughly tired 
of the life on the zone. I met a large number of them, 
some widows, the latter giving me a cordial invitation to 
remain a few days and visit different portions of the zone, 
and they would show me a good time. They visit back and 
forth along the zone, have their social gatherings and thus 
break the monotony of life. 

The United States has health officers stationed at differ- 
ent parts in the republic for the purpose of guarding the 
health of the canal zone. In fact,, it is hard to get away 
from the United States even in the Panama Republic. At 
the next election in July bloodshed is expected, and, of 
course, our government will be in the game. All these coun- 
tries are cursed with too many ambitious men. They want 
office to graft and they graft so as to become rich. Public 
office is looked upon in no other light. Revolutions are 
formed to put the outs in for no other purpose. Shoot the 
politicians and govern through trustees until the people can 
govern themselves is the only solution for better govern- 
ment in the next generation or two. The masses will never 
rise under the present methods, but will always be about 
the same; a poor, helpless, unfortunate people. , 

Besides the Panama railroad we have six boats running 
from Colon to New York. They are poorly managed and 
are a losing proposition. Private boats get the cream of 

258 



BY LAND AND SEA 

the passenger and freight business. Government employes 
do not hustle for business and the business that comes is 
handled indifferently and as if you are being favored. The 
hotels and ships are operated at a loss and it will always be 
so, because aggressive, accommodating, wideawake private 
competition will not be met. The government does not 
have to and will not hustle for business and, of course, fails 
to get the profits and pays the losses by taxation. 



259 



